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A  Universal  Man 


Abraham  Lincoln 

A  Universal  Man 

BY 

CLARK  PRESCOTT  BISSETT 

PROFESSOR    OF   LAW- 
UNIVERSITY    OF    WASHINGTON 


SAN     FRANCISCO 

JOHN  HOWELL 

MCMXXIII 


COPYRIGHT,  1923  BY  JOHN  HOWELL.  SAN  FRANCISCO 

PUBLISHED  OCTOBER,  1923 

PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

IMPERIAL  &  INTERNATIONAL  COPYRIGHT  SECURED 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED  IN  ALL  COUNTRIES 


E  &  R  GRABHORN,  PRINTERS  ::  SAN  FRANCISCO 


TO   MY    WIFE, 

EDITH    D.  BISSETT 

FRIEND,  COUNSELLOR,  GUIDE, 
FOR  MORE  THAN  A  QUARTER 
CENTURY  MY  DAILY  COMPANION 
AND  NEVER  FAILING  INSPIRATION. 
LIKE  THE  BLESSING  OF  THE 
LORD  —  MAKING  ME  RICH  AND 
ADDING  NO  SORROW  THEREWITH. 

C.  P.  B. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION  IX 

CHAPTER 

I  BIRTH  I 

II  CHILDHOOD  6 

III  BOYHOOD  24 

IV  YOUTH  30 
V  MANHOOD  36 

VI  PURIFYING  FIRES  48 

VII  CONQUERING  HIMSELF  59 

VIII  LAWYER  AND  LEGISLATOR  j6 

IX  INFLUENCE  OF  MARY  TODD  82 

X  APOSTLE  OF  DEMOCRACY  95 

XI  THE  HOUSE  DIVIDED  112 

XII  THE  GRAPPLE  OF  GIANTS  I34 

XIII  FROM  STATE  TO  NATION  1 44 

XIV  AT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  I50 
XV  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  l66 

XVI  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE  1 74 

XVII  SAVING  THE  UNION  1 84 

XVIII  RED  FIELDS  OF  WAR  201 

XIX  LINCOLN  A  PRESENT  POWER  220 


UNDOUBTEDLY  an  apology  is  necessary  for  adding 
another  page  to  the  overwhelming  mass  of  books  and 
pamphlets  devoted  to  the  genius  of  Abraham  Lincoln. My 
reason  is  a  purely  personal  one.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  I  have  been  a  collector  of  Lincolniana,  and  the  life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  has  become  consciously  and  unconsciously  a 
part  of  me.  I  have  ever  felt  a  deep  reverence  for  this  great  soul, 
and  I  venture  to  hope  that  I  may  communicate  this  reverence  to 
some  of  my  fellow  citizens,  especially  to  my  children. 

It  seems  fitting  to  call  attention  once  more  to  the  genius  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  who,  more  than  four  score  years  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was  the  one  man  who  held  a  brief 
for  the  full  interpretation  of  that  proclamation  for  freedom  to 
humanity,  and  who  after  a  lifetime  of  devotion  to  the  principles 
enunciated  in  that  sacred  document  was  able  in  his  Cooper  In- 
stitute Speech  to  convince  his  country  that  if  universal  freedom 
were  to  be  won  for  all  people,  it  must  be  won  through  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

However  far  the  performance  may  have  fallen  below  my  desires 
the  task  has  been  purely  a  labor  of  love.  No  man  can  speak  for 
another;  the  best  that  any  man  can  do  is  to  give  expression  to 
himself.  Tet  it  is  my  hope  that  this  little  book  may  result  in  a 
closer  sympathy  and  a  clearer  ^understanding  of  the  great 


Abraham  Lincoln 


principles  for  which  Lincoln  lived,  and  for  which  he  died.  I  shall 
be  most  happy  if  I  have  done  even  a  little  to  make  plain  the  devo- 
tion of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  principles  of  constitutional  and 
representative  government. 

'The  one  central  attribute  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  very  sun, 
as  it  were,  of  his  being,  was  Justice.  All  other  attributes  circled 
around  it  and  were  governed  by  it.  You  may  call  it  Justice  or  you 
may  call  it  Love.  It  matters  not,  for  there  is  little  difference  in  the 
quality  or  quantity  of  the  two  words.  A  man  who  is  primarily 
actuated  by  justice  will  do  precisely  the  same  things  under  the 
same  circumstances  as  one  who  is  actuated  by  love.  Those  out- 
standing leaders  of  men  who  have  most  fully  reflected  these  dis- 
tinctive attributes  of  Deity  give  abundant  proof  that  this  is  true. 

Lincoln  the  boy  was  just  as  Lincoln  the  man.  He  required  no 
precedent  on  which  to  found  his  reasoning.  He  was  as  ready  as 
Solomon  to  give  his  decision  on  any  vital  point  and  his  verdicts 
are  as  simple  and  uncontrovertible .  Born  and  reared  on  the 
borderland  between  states  that  were  divided  on  a  question  which 
had  reached  no  decisive  solution  through  all  the  ages,  he  never 
even  debated  it  in  his  own  mind. 

An  inharmonious  intellect  was  as  much  at  war  with  itself,  in 
his  high  temple  of  thought,  as  an  inharmonious  state,  or  country, 
or  kingdom.  He  saw  in  the  Union  under  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Union  of  the  individual — the  harmonious  man, 
capable  of  self  government,  subject  to  no  marts  dictation,  as  far 
as  the  life,  and  the  freedom  to  live  that  life,  in  the  world  of  justice 
could  be  carried.  A  union  of  states  meant  the  union  of  the  in- 
dividual, and  neither  was  open  to  secession.  In  the  realm  of  the 
mind,  he  acknowledged  no  allegiance  to  any  power  on  earth. 
His  Creator  was  his  sole  and  only  King.  The  union  of  the  states 
was  a  symbol  to  him  of  the  union  with  God. 

Study  him  as  you  may,  through  his  own  words,  through 


Introduction  xi 


records  of  his  intimate  friends,  or  through  his  acts,  and  you  will 
find  no  other  Lincoln  than  this.  If  the  times  in  which  he  lived 
brought  to  light  this  attribute  of  justice  in  all  its  pure  radiance , 
that  does  not  argue  that  the  times  were  the  cause  of  it.  'The  Union 
had  hundreds  of  men  of  far  greater  educational  advantages,  far 
superior  culture,  far  broader  experience,  and  of  no  less  human 
sympathies — Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  John 
Brown,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  his  great  rival,  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
Edwin  A.  Stanton,  and  the  great  Prime  Minister,  William  H. 
Seward;  but  none  of  these  had  lighted  in  his  soul  the  lamp  of 
justice.  Not  one  of  them  could  bring  himself  to  love  his  personal 
enemy,  much  less  the  enemies  of  his  theory  of  government.  Lin- 
coin  proved  himself  to  be  so  compounded  of  Love  and  Justice 
that  he  never  judged  any  man.  He  may  have  punished  because 
he  himself  obeyed  the  law  of  justice,  but  he  did  not  cease  to  love. 

We  talk  of  democracy,  but  the  world  has  known  few  democrats 
— perhaps  not  more  than  two.  To  see  every  human  being  as  an 
equal  is  impossible  to  any  merely  academic  intelligence.  The 
eyes  that  look  upon  men,  as  the  rain  falls  alike  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust  are  not  subject  to  the  light  of  libraries.  They  shine 
with  the  light  of  heaven.  No  mortal  reason  can  bring  a  man  to 
this  sublime  philosophy.  Such  a  state  of  mind  is  foolishness  to 
culture.  Even  religious  enthusiasm  falls  short  of  this  God-like 
contemplation  of  the  things  of  this  world.  But  Abraham  Lincoln 
so  saw,  so  felt,  so  understood.  Black  or  White,  bond  or  free, 
friend  or  enemy,  he  saw  them  all  in  love — "  Father,  for  give  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  speaks  out  boldly  in  his  every 
utterance,  beams  out  benignly  from  his  every  act. 

The  books  that  have  been  written  in  an  endeavor  adequately  to 
express  this  man  Lincoln,  now  make  a  large  library;  but  not  one 
of  them,  written  as  they  are  out  of  the  best  heart's  love,  compares 
with  the  man  Lincoln,  or  begins  to  shine  with  his  illimitable 


xii  Abraham  Lincoln 

personality.  Records  of  him  are  material.  He  himself  was  a  liv- 
ing flame,  burning  grandly  but  steadily ',  making  plain  the 
smallest  fibre  of  any  fact  to  which  its  rays  were  directed.  Such  a 
man  is  beyond  description.  The  noblest  and  most  capable  minds 
reach  only  the  borderlands  of  his  clear  thought.  What  matter  if 
his  boots  were  unblacked,  or  his  coat  ill-fitting?  There  was  not  a 
stain  upon  his  heart,  nor  a  wrinkle  in  his  soul.  His  simplest 
sentence  is  a  thunderbolt;  his  fiercest  anathema  a  blessing.  He 
walks  the  land  today,  a  spirit  of  colossal  proportions  by  which 
men,  measured  by  their  words  and  acts,  are  the  merest  pigmies. 

Lincoln's  greatest  general  never  lost  a  battle,  but  his  general- 
ship lasted  only  four  years,  and  was  confined  to  the  government 
and  science  of  war.  Lincoln  s  work  began  with  the  cradle  and 
will  endure  through  eternity;  his  battles  were  in  the  highest  clouds 
of  human  reason,  and  he  too  never  lost  a  battle.  His  foot  never 
took  a  backward  step.  His  judgment  never  failed.  Neither  did 
his  love  pale  nor  his  justice  repent. 

Look  upon  that  pictured  face  hanging  upon  your  study  wall. 
Do  you  not  feel  a  new  warm  glow  in  your  heart?  Do  not  the 
mixed  reasons  in  your  brain  fall  into  sweet  concord?  Does  not 
humanity  show  itself  in  gentler  aspect?  Do  not  personal  ambi- 
tions fade?  Do  not  animosities  die  away?  And  is  there  not  some- 
how born  in  your  whole  being  a  consciousness  of  harmony  and 
sweet  security  for  the  eventual  salvation  of  the  peoples  of  the 
earth?  No  other  man  who  ever  trod  the  earth  stands  as  close  to 
the  heart  of  the  world  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  save  He  who  voiced 
for  all  mankind  the  teaching  that  was  nearest  to  being  exemplified 
among  mortals  by  this  cabin-born  son  of  American  pioneers, 
whose  going  out  from  this  life  wrought  not  only  a  Union  of  the 
States,  but,  for  that  hour  of  mourning  at  least,  the  Union  of  all 
the  peoples  of  the  earth. 

We  need  Lincoln  Philosophy  and  Lincoln  Spirit  today.  The 


Introduction  xiii 


task  of  making  men  free  was  not  completed  with  the  abolition  of 
the  slavery  of  the  black  man.  Vast  numbers  of  the  human  family 
are  yet  in  bondage.  Everywhere  there  is  a  tendency  to  eat  the 
bread  earned  by  the  sweat  of  others.  Everywhere  there  is  a  lack 
of  the  broad  spirit  of  human  love  and  brotherhood,  which  is  the 
Lincoln  gospel.  Loyalty  to  the  Constitution — loyalty  to  the 
Union — loyalty  to  our  fellowmen — these  he  would  teach  us.  No 
man  can  know  Lincoln  too  well,  and  no  man  can  know  him  at 
all  without  becoming  better  for  the  knowledge.  These  are  in  part 
my  reasons  for  writing  this  book,  but  above  all  I  have  desired  to 
express  my  supreme  admiration  and  reverence  for  Abraham 
Lincoln,  before  whom  I  stand  with  bowed  head.  Afar  of  I  have 
followed  him  from  my  earliest  childhood,  and  here,  when  past 
middle  life,  I  approach  him  more  intimately ,  feeling  sure  that 
if  he  were  present  he  would  understand  and  sympathize  with  me 
in  my  desire,  bold  though  it  be,  to  make  the  world  a  little  better 
acquainted  with  him,  and  thereby  give  to  the  world  new  hope, 
new  aspirations,  and  a  new  sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  I 
tender  to  you,  my  readers,  in  all  humility,  this  book,  written  out 
of  the  love  of  my  heart  for  that  supreme  genius — Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Clark  Prescott  Bissett. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 
A  Universal  Man 


Chapter  I 

BIMTH 


IT  IS  early  evening  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1808, 
four  months  before  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  son  of  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  is  to  be  born.The  moon  is 
at  its  full  and  through  the  open  cabin  door,  for  it  is  Indian 
Summer  and  the  air  is  balmy,  a  flood  of  soft  light  falls 
across  the  puncheon  floor  and  touches  the  prospective  mother 
as  she  moves  about  the  cabin,  preparing  the  simple  evening 
meal.  Outside  in  a  sycamore  tree  a  mocking  bird  pours  forth 
a  flood  of  melody.  A  cricket  chirps  under  the  drying  boughs 
in  the  fireplace.  A  horned  owl  punctuates  the  stillness  with 
its  solemn  "too-whoo."  The  rugged  pioneer,  ax  on  shoulder, 
emerges  from  the  forest,  returning  to  his  evening  meal  of 
coarse  bread  of  corn  meal  and  venison.  The  rough  pine 
table  holds  a  few  cracked  dishes,  a  jug  of  maple  syrup,  and 
the  tin  cups  from  which  to  drink  the  parched  corn  coffee, 
or,  if  fortune  has  been  favorable,  a  limited  draught  of 
weak  tea.  Luxuries,  there  are  none.  The  cloth  that  covers  the 
table  is  of  some  coarse  fibre  of  home  weaving,  colored  to  dis- 
guise the  stains  with  which  constant  use  and  wear  have 
marred  it.  Rough,  home-made  chairs  or  stools  are  drawn  up 
at  the  board.  Distant  neighbors  drop  in  to  exchange  news, 
stumps  supplying  the  extra  seats  at  the  table. 
There  is  a  picture  of  George  Washington  hanging  on  the 


Abraham  Lincoln 


wall.  The  crude  fireplace  is  filled  with  green  branches,  the 
simple  attempt  at  decoration  which  is  the  tribute  of  woman- 
kind. 

As  darkness  falls  the  tallow  dips  are  lighted  and  while  the 
housewife  clears  away  the  remnants  of  the  meal,  the  men 
light  their  pipes  and  puff  the  fragrant  home-grown  tobacco. 
There  is  much  talk.  And  what  is  the  subject?  Neighborhood 
gossip?  It  commences  here,  but  a  fugitive  slave  has  been 
captured  somewhere  near,  and  sullen  and  silent,  or  weeping 
and  protesting,  has  been  taken  back  to  unrequited  toil.  One 
of  the  visitors  is  a  Constitutionalist  and  argues  the  rights  of 
the  slave  states  to  their  property  in  Negroes.  Then  there  is 
heated  argument  in  which  the  wife  joins.  Another  visitor  is 
an  Abolitionist  and  the  conversation  takes  a  sympathetic 
turn,  with  carefully  proclaimed  suggestions  from  Thomas 
Lincoln  on  the  right  of  the  Southern  planters  to  be  recom- 
pensed for  the  property  which  the  flaw  in  the  constitution 
concedes  to  them. 

One  cannot  think  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  with  the  child 
of  freedom  already  moving  under  her  heart,  agreeing  with  her 
husband  in  this  doctrine.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  mother-to- 
be  of  the  future  Emancipator  scorns  the  logic  of  statesmen 
and  places  herself  squarely  on  the  side  of  humanity.  Her  hus- 
band argues  for  the  rights  of  free  labor  as  against  that  of  slave 
labor.  The  male's  duty  to  himself,  to  his  mate  and  to  his  off- 
spring, the  primal  animal  instinct  which  runs  through  all 
animate  creation  that  has  risen  to  the  least  level  of  recogni- 
tion of  duty,  prompts  him  to  declare  against  the  dictum  that 
makes  his  labor  cheap  because  millions  of  other  laborers  of 
another  race  and  color  are  held  in  bondage  and  forced  to  work 
for  nothing.  His  sense  of  competition  prompts  him  to  combat 
the  institution  of  slavery,  even  while  his  reverence  for  gov- 


Birth  3 

ernment  inspires  him  to  uphold  the  Constitution  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Republic.  For  we  may  be  sure  that  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  was  well  revered  by  all  the  Lincolns 
from  their  earliest  generation  in  America.  And  we  may  also 
know  from  the  Biblical  names  which  all  the  Lincolns  be- 
stowed upon  the  male  children  of  the  family,  that  the  Laws 
of  Moses,  the  great  protest  of  the  Children  of  Israel  against 
human  bondage,  and  the  magnificent  struggle  of  that  nation 
of  freedom-lovers  to  break  the  chains  of  slavery  and  to  set  up 
a  nation  of  democracy  for  themselves,  was  ingrained  in  the 
very  nerve  and  marrow  of  the  Lincoln  tribe. 

What  will  be  the  mother's  thoughts  in  such  a  scene?  Will 
not  they  cluster  about  the  future  of  her  child?  Will  she  not 
wish  the  child  to  be  a  man?  Will  not  her  thoughts  see  him 
possessed  of  a  mind  for  solving  these  big  questions  which  are 
forever  ringing  in  her  ears?  Will  not  she  see  him  possessed 
with  almost  divine  attributes  which  shall  not  only  inspire 
him  to  great  deeds,  but  shall  give  him  the  heart  and  soul  to 
sympathize  with  those  oppressed  people  whose  sorrows  and 
longings  are  often  pictured  to  her  with  backwoods  eloquence; 
whose  sufferings  she  has  often  looked  upon  while  powerless  to 
interfere  to  save  the  victim,  or  even  to  offer  consolation  or  to 
apply  the  simple  healing  remedies  her  frontier  life  had  taught 
her  to  extract  from  herbs  and  wildwood  barks? 

Is  it  not  likely  that  this  woman,  a  child  of  nature,  rather 
delicate  in  body,  sensitive,  beautiful  in  form  and  feature,  and 
with  a  well-known  love  for  song  and  story,  especially  the 
sublime  song  and  story  of  the  Old  Testament;  ...  is 
it  not  likely  that  such  a  nature,  approaching  motherhood  and 
thrilled  night  and  day  with  the  hope  and  faith  of  maternity, 
in  the  holy  softness  of  great  shadowing  trees,  the  faithful 
stars  filling  the  upper  heavens  with  their  innumerable  mes- 


4  Abraham  Lincoln 

sages  of  stability,  and  the  great  sun  by  day  following  his 
steady  course,  there  where  the  voices  of  the  storm  proclaimed 
the  power  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  soft  breath  of  Spring  whis- 
pered of  His  enduring  love; — is  it  not  likely,  I  say,  that  in 
those  long  mystical  evenings,  pregnant  with  hallowed  mem- 
ories and  vibrant  with  the  suppressed  emotions  of  a  nation  of 
thirty  million  souls  slowly  but  surely  approaching  a  tremen- 
dous crisis  in  which  the  bravest  sons  of  all  those  states  should 
struggle  passionately  to  the  death  in  war; — is  it  not  likely 
that  she  should  pray  that  this  child  might  be  a  son,  and  that 
he  might  be  the  Moses  destined  to  lead  another  race  out  of 
bondage? 

You  have  the  result  of  those  meditations  in  the  life  and 
actions  and  work  of  her  son.  Unless  we  are  willing  to  stand  by 
the  law  of  chance  and  trust  our  present  and  future  to  the  cast- 
ing of  the  dice  by  blind  fate,  we  must  accept  this  argument  to 
account  for  Abraham  Lincoln. 

And  then  one  night  in  February  while  the  strong  winds,  big 
with  the  events  of  a  new  spring,  wrestled  about  the  little 
cabin  in  the  deep  woods,  the  child  was  born. 

What  an  hour  was  that  for  the  world !  How  far  on  another 
course  might  the  Ship  of  State  have  been  blown,  and  where 
might  it  be  drifting  today,  had  that  soul  in  its  rugged  little 
body,  not  come  into  our  world! 

If  we  were  to  attribute  intelligent  power  to  the  planets 
after  the  manner  of  the  ancients,  we  should  have  to  agree 
that  at  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  planet  Mars  and 
the  planet  Venus  were  both  in  the  ascendant,  for  never  has  a 
spirit  come  to  this  earth  in  which  the  powers  of  war  and  the 
powers  of  love  were  so  entwined.  But  we  need  not  seek 
beyond  the  natural  divinity  of  the  mother  and  the  rugged  and 
primal  nobility  of  the  father  and  his  forebears  to  cast  the 


Birth  5 

horoscope  of  this  great  world  figure.  The  very  time  of  his  con- 
ception was  pregnant  with  the  child  of  freedom.  The  newest 
nation  of  the  earth,  itself  a  child  of  liberty,  born  in  pain  and 
travail,  fought  for  while  yet  a  helpless  babe  in  the  cradle  of 
liberty,  was  now  in  the  vigorous  strength  of  youth;  and  while 
the  bloom  of  adolescence  was  still  hardly  more  than  seen  upon 
its  cheeks,  was  a  nation  divided  against  itself.  Out  of  that 
division  and  remating  was  to  be  born  another  child  of  Democ- 
racy— the  Union. 

This  tremendous  event  had  its  inception  about  the  cradle 
hewn  out  of  the  maple  log,  in  the  still,  sheltering  forest  where, 
more  than  anywhere  else,  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform. 


Chapter  II 

CHILDHOOD 


tA  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  February  12,  1809, 

/  VI  in  a  desolate  region,  three  miles  from  Hodgenville, 
1  mL  Kentucky,  a  place  that  today  would  not  be  given 
the  name  of  even  a  settlement,  so  crude  was  it  in  every 
way,  so  much  it  lacked  of  everything  that  goes  to  make  for 
civilization.  No,  not  everything,  for  there,  as  in  every  frontier 
settlement,  or  cabin  of  American  pioneers,  was  the  courage, 
the  will,  the  fearless  determination,  and  the  primal  virtues  of 
mind  and  heart  that  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  all  society,  and 
especially  of  the  society  of  that  period  of  America. 

A  strange  thing  is  this  coming  of  a  new  human  being  into 
the  world!  It  would  seem  that  the  cradle  of  a  child  born  for 
great  deeds  must  be  the  center  of  unnumbered  forces  flowing 
to  it  from  all  the  stars  of  the  universe.  We  believe  that  all  the 
planets  and  their  stars  are  connected  by  invisible  lines  with 
all  other  planets,  and  that  over  those  invisible  rays,  vibrant 
with  thrilling  action  travel  waves  of  sound  and  those  sounds 
in  heavenly  harmonies  break  upon  the  farthest  shores  of 
infinite  space.  It  must  certainly  follow  that  a  living  soul  has 
its  subtle  connections  with  other  soul  forces  in  the  infinitude 
of  God. 

Lincoln,  the  baby,  lying  in  his  rude  cradle,  sucking  his 
thumbs  and  gazing  with  a  child's  questioning  eyes  upon  a 


Childhood 


strange  new  world,  was  only  one  child  in  a  million  filling  such 
a  place  in  the  evolution  of  life  and  its  manifestations.  Other 
children  were  born  on  that  same  day,  the  same  hour,  one  or 
two  at  the  same  moment  perhaps.  But  no  child  whose  history 
we  know  had  such  a  heritage  of  thoughts  and  feelings, 
weighted  with  generations  of  passion  for  justice  tempered  by 
religious  devotion,  active  and  silent,  Covenanter,  Cavalier 
and  Quaker,  as  this  child,  Abraham  Lincoln.  Not  only  had  his 
ancestral  life  been  filled  with  thoughts  of  universal  democracy 
and  active  suffering  for  the  principle  of  it,  but  the  immediate 
atmosphere  wherein  he  was  conceived  and  brought  into  the 
world  was  colored  as  the  rainbow  with  the  breeding  ideas  of 
two  great  factions  at  bitter  strife,  each  intent  on  forcing  its 
particular  set  of  ideas  of  government  on  the  other,  or  of  going 
each  its  separate  way  in  search  of  those  things  which  each 
held  sacred  and  necessary  to  the  growth  and  ultimate  happi- 
ness of  man.  And  these  thought  forces  were  sending  out 
wave  upon  wave  into  the  surrounding  ocean  of  human  per- 
ception and  understanding. 

The  soul  of  that  tender  boy  in  the  father-made  cradle, 
rocked  by  the  foot  of  a  mother  who  had  become  imbued  with 
the  idea,  from  association  with  the  Lincoln  philosophy,  that 
such  labor  as  made  that  cradle  and  built  the  cabin  over  her 
head,  and  was  clearing  the  primeval  forest  to  make  land  from 
which  that  labor  might  win  independence  and  untrammeled 
action  for  the  individual  man,  was  honorable  and  the  soul  of 
that  boy  was  no  doubt  tuned  to  receive  the  thoughts  of  lib- 
erty and  to  deny  the  thoughts  of  bondage. 

Sitting  with  those  humble  people  in  that  dimly  lighted 
cabin,  did  no  sensitive  soul  feel  the  sacred  spell  of  prophetic 
greatness  hovering  near?  Did  no  gnarled  hand  of  a  primitive 
seer  bending  forward  from  a  crude  oaken  chair  rest  upon  the 


8  Abraham  Lincoln 

cradle  in  which  lay  the  sleeping  child?  Was  there  no  faint 
whisper  wafted  to  the  grey-eyed  mother  of  the  great  debt  that 
future  ages  were  to  bear  toward  this  new  comer  into  the  clean 
and  wholesome  woods?  There  lay  the  immortal  Lincoln,  he 
who  was  to  dictate  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  not  only 
of  four  million  African  slaves,  but  of  mankind. 

Three  great  names  shine  forth  in  American  history  and 
glow  with  supreme  effulgence;  Columbus,  Washington,  Lin- 
coln. Columbus  was  European  and  however  great  his  heart, 
however  lively  his  sympathies,  he  could  hardly  have  refrained 
from  passing  a  man  of  Lincoln's  appearance,  had  they  chanced 
to  meet,  with  scarce  a  glance  and  that  glance  one  of  curiosity, 
if  not  disdain.  His  schooling,  training  and  accomplishments 
had  all  been  in  another  world,  an  atmosphere  of  gentle  breed- 
ing and  courtly  polish.  Lincoln's  rugged  personality,  his  plain 
common  sense  theories,  his  loosely  fitting  garments  covering 
his  large  angular  frame,  could  but  have  shocked  the  stately 
flowing-robed  astronomer,  who  first  saw  round  the  world  "in 
his  mind's  eye"  and  in  an  effort  to  follow  the  circle  science 
cast  for  him  alone,  first  set  foot  upon  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. So  foreign  is  he  in  nature  to  those  who  finally  made 
settlement  in  America,  and  to  their  children,  who  hewed  out 
of  the  savage  tenanted  wilderness  these  democratic  states, 
that  his  spirit  is  translated  into  a  goddess,  and  what  part  of 
our  country  is  symbolically  given  to  its  discoverer  is  known 
as  Columbia.  Although  the  country  was  discovered  by 
Columbus,  he  is,  and  always  will  be,  as  foreign  to  it  as  the 
language  he  spoke  or  the  robes  he  wore. 

Washington  was  born  in  Virginia,  but  in  a  certain  sense  he 
was  not  a  native  to  the  soil.  He  was,  indeed,  a  grand  figure  in 
the  world;  his  bearing,  his  countenance,  his  manners,  and  his 
ideals  would  have  been  as  much  at  home  in  the  Roman  Re- 


Childhood 


public  a  sin  the  new  fledged  democracy  his  genius  brought 
into  life  with  the  confederation  of  the  original  states.  He,  too, 
would  have  needed  a  friendly  preparation  before  an  introduc- 
tion to  Lincoln  would  have  brought  them  into  any  kind  of 
harmonious  equality. 

Lincoln  had  none  of  the  physical  refinements  and  few  of 
the  mental  characteristics  of  either  of  his  predecessors  in  the 
building  of  America.  The  new  world  demanded  a  new  kind  of 
human  being.  Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  most  pro- 
nounced type  of  the  race  which  has  come  to  be  known  as 
American.  We  speak  of  America  as  new,  although  its  blood  is 
the  blood  of  all  old  nations,  as  its  philosophy  and  its  religion 
is  that  of  all  ancient  peoples.  Lincoln  was  like  America  itself; 
seemingly  formed  on  the  plan  of  its  mighty  mountain  ranges, 
its  rich  prairies,  its  rushing  and  commanding  rivers,  its  stern- 
fibred  forests,  its  pronounced  seasons,  and  its  ever  increasing 
riches  running  through  all  its  veins  and  ever  returning  in  the 
plenteous  and  varied  products  of  the  soil.  Had  it  been  the 
Creator's  design  to  symbolize  the  western  world  in  one 
human  being,  it  may  be  said  with  all  reverence  that  the  ideal 
was  expressed  in  seeming  perfection  in  this  mighty  man. 

The  strength,  the  vigor,  the  far-extended,  unfettered 
America, — uncharted,  unconquered,  throbbing  with  life,  now 
rocked  with  the  passion  of  unbridled  storm,  now  soft  and 
melancholy  with  the  meditative  Indian  Summer,  but  ever 
new  and  beautiful,  as  it  was  ever  august,  strange  and  wooing 
— this  was  and  is  America.  This  was  and  is  Lincoln. 

And  if  Lincoln  in  this  large  sense  was  made  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  America,  he  was  in  a  more  precious  and  inti- 
mate sense  an  image  and  likeness  of  the  people  he  so  mar- 
velously  led  and  held  and  inspired  through  such  troubled 
years  as  no  other  ruler  ever  encountered.  Literally,  Lincoln 


10  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  a  man  of  the  people;  not  only  a  man  of  the  people  of 
America  but  of  the  people  of  the  world,  irrespective  of  race, 
color  or  condition.  For  did  not  he  himself  say  that  he  was 
upholding  the  cause  of  freedom  for  the  world,  and  was  he  not 
nobly  saving  "the  last,  best  hope  of  earth"? 

Such  are  the  thoughts  as  in  imagination  we  have  sat  with 
crossed  legs  on  the  rough  stool  in  the  dimly  lighted  cabin  of 
the  Lincolns,  our  hands  lightly  resting  on  the  cradle  of  their 
boy.  And  how  precious  they  make  every  cradle,  how  sacred 
the  life  of  every  babe  that  lies  therein.  For  who  so  wise  to 
know  what  hand  at  this  moment  is  rocking  the  cradle  of 
another  great  Truth  Teller  who  is  to  rule  or  save  the  world  ? 
Sacrilegious  indeed  were  this  projection  of  imagination  to  the 
humble  backwoods  home  of  our  sainted  Lincoln,  unwar- 
ranted beyond  measure  these  free  flights  into  the  realm  of  his 
unpolluted  babyhood,  were  the  mission  one  of  idle  curiosity, 
were  the  speculations  of  the  God-crowned  hours  of  his  nativ- 
ity born  of  idle  dreams.  But  we  who  venerate  the  name  of  this 
great  soul  have  no  such  feelings  in  our  hearts.  We  revere  this 
man  and  the  memory  of  him  as  much  as  any  "this  side  of 
idolatry."  Stripped  of  all  wordly  vanities  we  sit  with  these 
humble  parents  in  their  bare  cabin,  holding  with  trembling 
hands  to  the  hopes  of  future  generations  that  are  slowly  germ- 
inating in  the  life-drops  of  that  innocent  child,  about  whose 
gentle  slumbers  troop  unseen  the  spirits  of  the  fragrant 
green  wood,  the  spirits  of  wisdom  and  truth  and  benevolence, 
of  wit  and  mirth,  of  power  and  love  and  unapproachable 
forgiveness. 

The  night  is  gone.  The  stars  that  jewel  the  treetops  dis- 
appear. Dawn  drapes  the  eastern  sky  with  crimson  glories. 
And  looking  the  clear-eyed  father  straight  in  the  eyes 
we  pass  in  silence  to  the  dewy  air  of  the  newborn  day,  our 


Childhood  11 


finger  tips  alive  with  the  memory  of  that  blessed  touch  upon 
the  cradle  of  the  child  whose  shoulders  are  yet  to  be  bowed 
beneath  the  weight  of  marshalled  human  woe. 

Every  woman  with  her  child  in  her  arms  is  at  heart  a  Ma- 
donna. This  is  true  even  in  thickly  settled  communities  where 
employments  are  diversified  and  the  mind  has  many  and 
varied  distractions.  But  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  where 
the  mother  and  child  are  pressed  closely  together  for  com- 
panionship and  the  depths  of  impenetrable  forests  and  the 
great  silences  of  nature  fill  the  heart  with  unusual  hopes  or 
strange  forebodings,  the  supreme  mystery  of  birth  and 
motherhood  become  a  thousand  times  more  wonderful  and 
holy. 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  a  mother  of  sweet  and  gentle  pres- 
ence. Those  who  knew  her  as  the  lovely  and  imaginative  girl, 
Nancy  Hanks,  and  afterwards  as  the  wife  of  Thomas  Lincoln, 
speak  of  her  with  peculiar  admiration  and  respect.  The  crude 
speech  of  the  backwoodsman,  when  she  becomes  the  subject 
of  his  recollections,  is  softened  and  refined,  like  that  of  one 
who  speaks  of  a  sacred  mystery.  She  was  tall  in  stature, 
slender,  graceful,  delicate,  retiring,  heroic,  patient,  loving, 
beautiful;  plain  to  one,  to  another  colored  like  a  wild  rose. 
Gay  and  smiling  always,  according  to  this  old  neighbor;  sad 
and  pensive  to  another.  Out  of  place  among  her  primitive  sur- 
roundings, this  one  remembers;  a  woman  born  for  solitude 
and  brave  undertakings,  we  are  assured  by  another.  A  woman 
of  little  learning  but  of  quick  wit,  declares  a  third;  she  had  a 
good  knowledge  of  books,  could  read  just  as  if  she  were  talk- 
ing, and  could  make  a  book  seem  like  something  alive  and  its 
happenings  take  place  before  your  eyes,  another  tells  us. 

Piece  together  meager  bits  of  description  picked  up  by 
industrious  Lincoln  biographers  from  the  small  number  of 


12  Abraham  Lincoln 

people  who  knew  her,  and  you  will  get  some  idea  of  a  rich  and 
elusive,  but  marvelously  blended  nature,  that  gave  life  to  him 
whose  own  life  was  such  a  puzzling  enigma.  "No  man  ever 
drew  his  infant  life  from  a  purer  or  more  womanly  bosom,,, 
says  J.  G.  Holland  in  his  "Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  and  this 
he  writes  reverently  after  the  most  careful  and  detailed  search 
in  every  quarter  where  there  could  remain  the  slightest  mem- 
ory of  her. 

Were  every  other  evidence  lacking,  that  of  the  son  himself, 
in  his  boyhood  acts  and  in  his  every  reference  to  his  mother 
throughout  his  life,  is  yet  enough  upon  which  to  build  the 
paragon  of  womanhood.  Lincoln  had  many  ways  of  express- 
ing his  feelings  as  well  as  of  hiding  them,  but  in  the  field  of 
truth  he  stood  almost  alone  among  men  as  having  seldom 
uttered  a  word  that  might  have  a  double  meaning,  or  of  ever 
having  passed  the  door  of  pure  sentiment  but  with  uncovered 
head  and  hushed  and  bated  breath.  And  he  said,  long  after 
the  maple  leaves  that  fell  upon  the  mound  which  marked  the 
first  great  tragedy  of  his  life  had  mouldered  into  dust  and 
sprung  again  to  life  above  her,  "All  that  I  am,  or  hope  to  be, 
I  owe  to  my  mother  *  *  *  blessings  on  her  memory." 

Thomas  Lincoln  cleared  the  forest,  stalked  deer  and  wild 
turkey,  worked  at  his  carpenter  bench  in  the  stump-infested 
clearing,  a  big-chested,  hearty,  good  natured  man,  stretching 
his  bulk  before  the  log  fire  at  night  to  repeat  droll  stories  of 
the  day's  doings. 

The  nearest  neighbor  was  three  miles  away  and  the  journey 
thither  followed  an  almost  impenetrable  trail  beset  with  wild 
beasts  and  full  of  unnamed  dangers.  Evening  visitors  were 
few.  The  family  was  much  alone.  No  doubt  the  boy  was 
often  on  the  parent  knee  and  the  brawny  hand  caressed  the 
tiny  baby  with  a  touch  as  zephyr  light,  as  that  with  which 


Childhood  13 


the  mother  ran  her  more  delicate  fingers  over  the  father's 
bush  of  uncropped  hair. 

But  brave  hearts,  clear  brains,  and  healthy  bodies  do  not 
make  social  intercourse  either  easy  or  general  in  a  wilderness 
spotted  by  a  few  scattered  clearings.  Men  and  women  who 
are  carving  out  a  home  on  the  picket  line  of  that  great  army 
of  Earth  adventurers,  who  have  been  born  to  make  the 
wilderness  blossom  like  the  rose,  must  "have  that  within 
that  passeth  show";  that  smouldering  fire  of  self-sufficiency 
which  makes  them  companions  to  wood  and  stream,  to  moun- 
tain and  valley,  to  the  crude  tools  that  come  to  fit  so  closely 
their  strong  hands;  such  are  the  "home  folks"  of  the  isolated 
cabin  that  hardly  shelters  them  from  the  rude  blasts  of 
Nature's  changing  moods.  And  Thomas  Lincoln,  knowing 
nothing  of  books,  and  Nancy,  his  wife,  knowing  completely 
those  she  had,  were  forced  to  find  the  audience  for  their 
thoughts  and  feelings  in  their  children,  especially  in  that 
small  bit  of  human  flesh  and  blood,  the  male  child  so  lately 
come  from  his  Maker  that  the  image  and  likeness  had  yet 
scarce  a  mark  or  lineament  of  this  world  upon  it. 

What  dialogues  they  held  in  that  strange  theatre  of  life  to 
which  the  one  dumb  auditor  gave  quiet  heed,  let  the  unfet- 
tered imagination  supply  to  an  equally  silent  soul.  We  may  be 
sure  they  were  not  idle  thoughts  to  which  those  two  gave 
voice  in  the  flickering  shadows  of  those  early  spring  evenings, 
the  rough  winds  of  March  rocking  the  treetops  to  wild  har- 
monies overhead,  the  crackling  back  log  punctuating  the 
silences,  or  adding  strange  little  quavers  to  the  low-pitched 
voice  of  the  woman  or  the  deep  growling  bass  of  the  man.  No 
author  has  ever  been  able  to  catch  the  spirit  of  such  conver- 
sations. They  are  like  the  song  of  the  wood  thrush  that  is 
never  uttered  except  the  singer  feels  himself  alone  with  his 


u  Abraham  Lincoln 

mate  and  nestlings.  And  may  they  not  have  the  same  subtle 
influence  on  the  cooing  babe  that  the  bird  song  has  on  its 
offspring,  that  somehow  absorb  the  vibrations  of  the  song 
into  their  own  beings  and  so  in  time  pour  it  forth  again  to 
astonish  the  listener  with  rapturous  melody? 

Who  shall  say  the  babe  that  nestled  between  those  two 
primal  natures  on  those  evenings  of  heart  communion  did  not 
likewise  drink  in  the  vibrations  of  their  voices  and  the  wisdom 
of  their  honest  hearts  and  tender  loves,  their  hopes  and  fears 
for  his  dim,  shadowy  future!  Perhaps  some  of  those  quick 
answers  he  delivered  with  such  astonishing  appropriateness 
under  stress  of  a  tragic  moment  in  later  years  were  but  the 
echoes  of  those  voices  that  pleaded  for  entrance  to  his  un- 
charted mind  in  those  communal  hours. 

March  passed  and  April  came  with  its  modest  wildwood 
flowers,  May  with  its  plum  and  wild  apple  bloom  and  fra- 
grance, its  ivory-mantled  dogwood,  the  green  of  the  woods 
above  and  below,  the  treetops  musically  merry  with  the  songs 
of  mating  birds,  and  lively  with  the  flashing  of  their  tireless 
wings.  The  long  hot  days  of  summer  ripened  the  wild  fruits. 
The  frost  of  fall  turned  the  green  leaves  red  and  gold,  quick- 
ened the  woodland  sounds  as  it  stilled  the  saps  of  tree  and 
shrub,  ripened  the  nuts  of  hickory  and  walnut,  turned  the 
haws  a  rich  purple,  and  muffled  the  streams  under  a  soft 
blanket  of  fallen  verdure.  The  snows  of  winter  sent  the  woods- 
man forth  with  his  axe,  its  gleaming  blade  bit  into  the  boles  of 
great  trees  with  the  regular  swing  of  a  musician's  baton,  and 
the  voices  of  the  forest  had  an  occasional  chorus  of  the  rush  of 
falling  monarchs,  tearing  their  way  through  their  still  upright 
brothers  to  crash  in  pathetic  ruin  along  the  trembling  earth. 

So  the  seasons  passed,  the  days  full  of  homely  toil  and 
simple  adventure  for  father  and  mother  Lincoln,  the  boy 


Childhood  is 


feeding  his  growing  life  on  the  pure  air  of  the  spicy  green- 
wood, his  ears  forever  filled  with  those  wonderful  symphonies 
of  nature,  the  rhythm  of  them  becoming  every  day  a  greater 
force  in  the  beatings  of  his  heart,  the  veins  apulse  with  his 
young  blood. 

For  four  years  the  boy  played  about  the  floor  of  that  little 
cabin  home  which  had  been  blessed  by  his  coming.  He  grew 
strong  and  lithe,  the  black  hair  of  his  father  falling  about  the 
gray  eyes  of  his  mother,  as  he  crept  across  the  threshold  to 
welcome  the  return  of  the  woodsman  carpenter,  or  toddled  to 
clasp  the  outstretched  hands  of  his  mother,  coaxing  him  to 
his  early  pedestrian  journeys  along  the  far-stretched  lines  of 
the  cabin  floor. 

And  while  the  child  grew  lithe-limbed  and  active,  the 
father's  ambition  rose  somewhat  and  by  hard  toil  he  cleared 
another  patch  of  ground  in  a  more  fertile  region  to  the  north- 
ward and  built  a  more  commodious  home  of  logs,  into  which 
the  family  moved.  No  doubt  the  gentle  mother  cast  many  a 
pensive  glance  back  to  that  home  whereto  had  come  her  first- 
born son,  and  wherein  she  had  nursed  him  through  the  dan- 
gers of  isolated  childhood.  This  new  land  lay  low  between  the 
hills  and  was  subject  to  floods  by  freshets  after  heavy  rains. 
A  child  of  four  in  modern  life  is  looked  on  as  but  a  baby  to  be 
nursed  with  gentle  care.  But  your  primitive  man-child  must 
be  something  of  an  adventurer  at  four. 

In  those  three  years  following  the  removal  to  the  new 
home,  the  neighbors  remembered  that  this  boy  had  already 
begun  to  make  himself  useful  in  many  ways  about  the  farm 
and  workshop.  He  learned  by  journeys  of  discovery  into  the 
nearby  thickets,  the  names  of  plants  and  flowers,  to  distin- 
guish birds  by  the  colors  of  their  plumage  and  their  differing 
songs.  His  first  alphabet  was  that  of  the  great  book  of  Nature 


16  Abraham  Lincoln 

wherein  the  Creator  has  writ  large  for  those  with  minds  alive 
to  read  as  they  run.  But  he  learned,  too,  at  his  mother's  knee, 
the  alphabet  of  the  books  of  man  and  so  the  words  of  that 
other  sacred  volume,  writ  by  command  of  the  same  Presence 
in  the  language  of  man's  invention. 

Could  there  have  been  a  better  school  for  one  who  was 
finally  to  be  set  at  the  head  of  a  liberty-loving  people,  to 
decipher  the  puzzle  of  freedom  and  slavery  tied  together  and 
knotted  as  securely  as  might  be  by  the  most  subtle  and  selfish 
minds  of  an  era  of  giant  intellects  in  the  new  America?  How 
those  short  decisive  commands  from  the  old  Hebrew  law- 
makers' edicts  rooted  themselves  into  his  soul-soil,  his  after 
days  give  ample  proof.  How  that  young  mind,  with  no  dis- 
tractions of  urban  life,  composed — unknowingly,  no  doubt, 
but  still  composed — those  sublime  and  tender  messages  from 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  with  the  sermon  of  the  sunshine 
flooding  the  swaying  trees  and  making  silver  and  golden  the 
ripples  of  the  flowing  stream,  may  be  read  in  every  one  of 
those  inspired  speeches;  in  every  one  of  the  marching  state 
papers;  in  every  single  message  of  love  to  a  stricken  mother  of 
a  soldier  wounded  or  slain;  in  every  mental  blow  struck,  with 
the  same  sharp  directness  and  unswerving  aim  that  made  his 
woodsman's  ax  the  wonder  of  his  fellows. 

It  is  sacred  soil,  this  infant  mind,  and  so  the  wise  young 
mother  knew  and  saw  that  it  was  sown  with  perfect  seed.  It 
would  be  well  if  every  mother  knew  this,  and  heeded  and  saw 
to  it  that  her  offspring's  mind  in  the  virgin  spring  of  life  was 
sown  with  seed  as  truly  clean  and  fine  and  rich  with  Christly 
virtues.  Not  then  would  men  like  Lincoln  stand  forth  in  such 
colossal  stature  above  their  fellows,  for  the  race  would  lift  and 
grow  and  match  him  in  its  height  of  honest  worth.  Other 
things  the  mother  taught  her  boy:  to  write,  to  understand 


Childhood  17 


simple  arithmetic,  but  most  of  all  to  reason,  and  to  hold  fast 
that  which  is  good. 

The  strong  fibres  and  steel  sinews  of  his  body  he  had  in- 
herited from  his  father;  also  that  simplicity  and  common 
sense  that  gave  him  such  poise  and  patience  that  the  undis- 
cerning  called  him  lazy,  failing  to  measure  him  by  his  steady 
and  continual  achievements  against  nature,  and  by  his  big- 
souled  determination  neither  to  complain  of  circumstances 
nor  to  be  weak  enough  to  let  fate  know  his  hands  were  under 
the  anvil.  Those  were  Abraham  Lincoln's  most  pronounced 
attributes  on  his  man  side,  patience  to  toil  without  complaint 
or  boast,  and  wisdom  to  know  that  all  toil,  his  or  others,  was 
worthy  of  recompense  to  the  toiler.  In  this  much  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  Abraham  were  one.  Also  in  the  tireless  muscles 
of  the  flexible  body,  the  powerfully-knit  frame,  the  almost 
superhuman  strength,  and,  when  aroused,  the  thunderous 
anger  of  the  lion  brought  to  bay.  Few  men  ever  saw  Lincoln 
enraged  but  those  few  never  forgot  it,  and  forever  after  he 
was  the  subject  of  their  fearful  wonderment.  This  was 
Thomas  Lincoln's  contribution  to  the  world's  work  which  his 
son  was  to  do. 

The  mother's  was  no  less  important,  no  less  the  good  and 
perfect  gift  for  the  purpose.  Like  her,  he  had  a  gentle  and 
imaginative  mind,  a  heart  quick  with  endless  sympathy,  a 
delicacy  of  conception  poetic  in  its  quality,  and  an  intuition 
that  made  him  the  seer  of  his  age  and  the  prophet  of  the 
future  of  Democracy. 

It  took  years  of  trial  and  the  tragedy  of  a  dismembered 
Nation,  wherein  brother  fought  brother  and  father  fought 
son  in  hand-to-hand  battle  to  the  death,  to  bring  into  perfect 
composition  those  qualities  of  his  parents  which,  united, 
made  Abraham  Lincoln  the  great  figure  of  his  own  short  hour 


18  Abraham  Lincoln 

upon  the  tragic  stage  of  this  life  action,  wherein  we  all  are 
"such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of,"  and  set  him  forever  as 
high  as  the  heart  of  God  in  the  pantheon  of  immortals. 

What  kingly  mansion  owned  such  riches  as  that  small  Ken- 
tucky cabin  wherein  Abraham  Lincoln  first  saw  the  light,  and 
whereto  his  mind  always  reverently  turned  as  to  the  source  of 
all  his  worth  and  greatness?  What  are  crowns  and  diadems 
and  scepters,  courtiers  and  ladies-in-waiting,  thrones  and 
courts,  compared  to  the  humble  home  where  Thomas  and 
Nancy  lived  and  brought  forth  Abraham  and  gave  him  such 
properties  of  body  and  mind  and  heart  and  soul  that  he  could 
do  the  work  he  did?  What  is  poor  or  humble  or  degraded  in 
the  picture  of  those  three  wonderful  human  beings  seated  in 
that  humble  cabin  before  the  flickering  firelight,  the  freedom 
of  four  million  slaves  in  their  hands,  and  the  sublime  teaching 
of  manhood  and  honor  and  worth  for  all  the  future  ages  in 
their  eyes? 

Cut  off  the  past  sharp  there  at  that  Kentucky  cabin  with 
only  those  three  figures  to  open  the  world's  story,  and  what 
have  we  sacrificed  out  of  what  we  really  know  of  honor  or 
justice  or  love  or  hope  or  patience  or  fruitful  action  or  the 
despising  of  all  that  is  mean  or  worthless  or  vulgar,  in  this 
strange  human  tragedy  which  we  call  life?  Man,  Woman, 
Child;  Thomas,  Nancy,  Abraham.  The  story  is  written.  The 
stage  is  set.  The  drama  is  enacted.  Ring  down  the  curtain. 
Nothing  more  is  to  be  said  of  this  drama  of  humanity,  unless 
it  be  the  epilogue  which  shall  explain  what  good  is  yet  to  come 
because  these  three  have  lived  and  one  has  played  the  leading 
part  in  thrusting  forth  from  mortal  mind  the  false  and  sham, 
and  in  bringing  in  the  better  light,  the  true  and  fine,  the 
noble,  sweet  and  lovely. 

Knob  Creek,  which  was  the  scene  of  this  early  teaching  of 


Childhood  19 


Nancy's  boy,  took  heavy  toll  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  and  year 
after  year  swept  over  his  little  clearing  to  the  partial  or  utter 
ruin  of  his  crops,  and  once  more  the  little  family  pressed  on 
toward  the  golden  West  whose  promises  have  ever  wooed  the 
pioneer  on  land  as  they  wooed  the  adventurer  on  sea.  This 
time  the  migration  was  across  the  Ohio  River  and  through  a 
dense  forest  for  eighty  or  ninety  miles  to  the  final  earthly 
home  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  in  an  Indiana  wilderness. 

Abraham  was  now  seven  years  old.  He  was  large  for  his 
age,  healthy  with  the  health  of  the  big  out-of-doors.  He  knew 
little  of  the  fear  of  those  "ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to"  in  the 
sophisticated  beliefs  of  children  who  grow  up  in  closely 
settled  communities  where  disease  is  often  the  subject  of 
family  gossip,  as  well  as  of  more  or  less  intelligent  study  by 
the  heads  of  the  household.  The  Lincolns  were  a  sturdy  race 
and  no  doubt  a  few  simple  herbs  served  to  medicine  their  ills, 
whatever  sickness  visited  them.  No  record  is  extant  where 
Lincoln  or  any  of  his  contemporaries  have  mentioned  any 
disease  ever  having  attacked  the  boy,  either  in  childhood  or 
later  in  life.  He  seems  to  have  been  peculiarly  blessed  with 
health,  bodily  strength,  and  a  fearless  spirit. 

It  was  this  fine  start  in  natural  growth  and  development 
that  gave  him  the  almost  superhuman  strength  and  endur- 
ance of  after  years,  especially  those  five  years  of  almost  con- 
tinuous soul  agony  of  the  White  House,  when  sleep,  for  long 
periods  of  time  was  almost  entirely  abandoned,  while  with 
watchful  wakefulness  he  studied  and  pondered  the  problems 
that  threatened  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  his  hand  alone 
holding  together  the  trembling  parts,  his  mind  alone  com- 
passing the  full  significance  of  the  tragedy  that  was  being 
enacted.  Ah,  how  much  the  world  owed  to  those  pure  winds 
of  the  Kentucky  woods,  the  deep  breath  drawn  into  the  lungs 


20  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  the  growing  boy,  filling  him  with  ever  renewed  vitality  as 
he  swung  on  those  long  tramps  over  forest  trails! 

Partly  by  flatboat  and  partly  through  the  tangled  woods 
the  little  family,  father,  mother,  Sarah  and  young  Abe  made 
their  tortuous  way  for  eighty  or  ninety  miles.  Often  the  trees 
had  to  be  cut  and  the  underbrush  cleared  to  make  way  for  the 
wagon  with  its  little  load  of  household  goods,  the  all  of  this 
strange  caravan  of  four.  Arriving  at  last  in  Spencer  County, 
Indiana,  with  the  remnants  of  his  possessions  saved  from 
wreck  and  flood,  Thomas  Lincoln  determined  to  settle.  He 
seemed  to  sense  with  a  keen  appreciation  the  meaning  of 
man's  place  in  the  universe,  as  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he 
had  placed  some  distance  between  himself  and  the  land  where 
a  white  man's  labor  was  in  competition  with  the  unpaid  labor 
of  the  black  man,  and  where  the  enunciation  of  the  immortal 
truth  that  the  laborer,  of  whatsoever  color  or  race,  is  worthy 
of  his  hire,  was  frowned  upon  as  vulgar  if  not,  in  fact,  sedition. 

It  is  evident  from  Lincoln's  first  preserved  utterances,  that 
he  drank  in  at  the  humble  hearthstone  of  his  parents  the 
principle  of  universal  brotherhood.  It  is  evident  that  through- 
out his  tremendous  struggles,  first  for  his  own  individual 
unionized  self  and  later  for  the  unionized  independence  of  his 
beloved  country,  he  never  had  to  unlearn  a  single  item  of  the 
teachings  of  his  childhood.  There  is  not  a  record  of  one  word 
he  ever  uttered  of  sorrow  for  anything  he  was  taught  by  his 
parents,  or  of  any  of  the  things  he  learned  from  his  meagre 
collection  of  books.  It  was  as  if  an  All-seeing  Eye  and  an  All- 
directing  Hand  guided  ever  in  the  instructions  of  his  mind 
and  the  books  that  were  placed  in  his  hands.  The  Bible — 
from  that  he  learned  his  letters;  from  that  he  got  his  mar- 
velously  terse,  vigorous  and  direct  style;  also  that  deep  and 
Solomon-wise  manner  of  reasoning  which  made  him  the  won- 


Childhood  21 


der  and  the  admiration  of  his  fellow  lawyers  on  the  old  Eighth 
Circuit  in  his  days  of  adolescent  practice  at  the  Bar;  and  later 
the  amazement  of  statesmen,  philosophers,  orators  and  cul- 
tured scribes  of  all  civilized  nations. 

Then,  too,  he  drank  deep  of  the  old  Greek  wisdom  in  the  con- 
densed form  of  Aesop's  Fables,  that  collection  of  kohinoors  of 
subtle  understanding,  in  which  he,  at  least,  found  the  sub- 
stance of  a  never  failing  philosophy  that  served  to  dispel 
ignorance  and  rouse  lofty  aspirations,  alike  in  the  souls  of  the 
cultured  and  the  uncultured.  There  were  other  books,  a  few 
later  on,  but  these  were  his  boyhood's  food,  and  he  not  only 
read  them  faithfully,  assiduously,  and  constantly,  but  he 
rephrased  them  again  and  again  in  his  own  words  as  a  trial  of 
his  intelligence  and  wit  and  understanding. 

Demosthenes  declaiming  with  pebbles  in  his  mouth  to  give 
him  rotund  utterance  is  a  no  more  striking  figure  in  the  his- 
tory of  oratorical  achievement,  than  that  of  the  boy  Lincoln 
rewording  Solomon  or  Aesop  on  the  shaved  back  of  a  wooden 
shovel  with  a  burnt  stick  for  a  pen.  The  account  of  the  boy 
Jesus  leaving  his  parents  to  debate  with  the  Rabbis  in  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem  is  no  more  significant  of  preparation  for 
His  mission  than  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  his.  At  sixteen 
years  we  see  him  rising  betimes,  doing  his  chores,  and  walking 
seventeen  miles  to  hear  Blackburn  plead  law  in  a  crowded 
court,  sitting  all  day  on  a  hard  stool,  dinnerless,  drinking  in 
the  arguments  and  absorbing  the  proceedings  of  law,  and 
then  once  more  covering  the  seventeen  miles  on  foot  to  do  his 
evening  chores  and  creep  to  his  hard  bed,  to  recount  again 
and  again  the  day's  proceedings.  It  is  of  undisputed  record 
that  Lincoln  did  this,  not  for  one  day  only,  but  for  all  the 
days  in  turn,  so  long  as  the  court  term  lasted.  And  he  himself 
testified  long  afterward  that  it  was  this  strange  tuition  which 


22  Abraham  Lincoln 

gave  him  the  foundations  of  his  law  practice,  the  spur  to  his 
indefatigable  study  of  the  art  of  oratory. 

There  is  much  useless  lumber  in  the  accounts  of  Lincoln's 
childhood,  so  far  as  they  apply  to  a  penetrating  study  of  his 
real  character,  and  the  principal  things  by  which  it  was 
developed  and  made  whole  for  the  high  place  he  occupies 
among  the  earth's  preferred  heroes;  but  dig  among  this  lum- 
ber in  whatever  quarter  it  lies  piled,  and  you  will  always  come 
upon  a  few  facts  that  fit  together  with  such  beautiful  pre- 
cision that  they  are  like  the  two  or  three  witnesses  who  agree 
absolutely  in  any  case  to  prove  its  justice  and  certitude. 
These  are  the  religious  vigor  of  mind  in  both  his  parents,  and 
the  natural  love  of  truth  which  possessed  them;  the  unerring 
judgment  of  Lincoln's  mother  as  to  what  was  best  in  litera- 
ture such  as  the  Bible,  Aesop  and  Robinson  Crusoe,  and  her 
love  of  the  beauty  of  holiness,  not  of  creed  or  doctrine,  but 
the  clean  holiness  of  flower  and  breeze,  of  the  rhythm  of 
winds,  the  glory  of  the  sunshine  and  moonlight  and  the  ever 
clear-eyed  stars.  There  is  also  the  homely  humor  of  the 
father,  his  uncomplaining  patience,  his  unworded  hope 
expressed  in  his  methodical  journeys  toward  a  state  of  free- 
dom and  equality,  and  his  kinelike  placidity  and  common- 
sense. 

Of  such  universal  elements  was  Abraham  Lincoln  com- 
pounded. These  attributes  fed  him  in  his  cradle,  enveloped 
him  in  his  first  toddlings  across  the  puncheon  floor  of  the 
Kentucky  cabin,  stalked  beside  him  as  he  stumbled  through 
the  swamps  and  tangled  undergrowth,  driving  the  team 
across  that  unknown  trail  into  the  Indiana  country.  And 
when  he  had  passed  beyond  the  personal  influence  of  those 
great  gray  eyes  filled  with  mother  love  and  prophetic  musing 
for  her  stalwart  boy,  and  beyond  the  home  comradeship  of 


Childhood  23 


that  heavy-footed,  deep-chested,  glinting-eyed  father,  the 
spirits  of  that  mother  and  father  still  walked  beside  him,  their 
dual  natures  still  grew  together  in  him,  lifted  him  up,  sus- 
tained and  kept  him  with  his  hand  on  the  heart  of  humanity, 
his  feet  planted  firmly  on  the  great  ever-breeding  earth,  his 
head  among  the  brave  and  noble  and  wise  and  loving  of  all 
countries  and  of  all  time. 


Chapter  III 

BOYHOOD 


WHEN  ABRAHAM  was  nine  years  old  his  mother 
died.  An  epidemic  of  "milksickness"carried  away- 
several  ofthe  scattered  population  of  the  frontier 
settlemen  t,  which  didnot  boast  even  a  visiting  doctor.For  seven 
days  the  slender  toil-worn  woman  lingered  on  the  verge  of  the 
great  mystery,  with  Sarah,  the  eldest  child  of  eleven  years, 
and  the  boy  Abraham,  her  only  attendants.  Thomas  Lincoln, 
the  father,  could  hardly  have  spared  the  time  from  getting 
family  supplies  out  of  the  rugged  surroundings,  to  remain 
long  at  her  bedside.  When  she  knew  the  end  to  be  near,  Mrs. 
Lincoln  called  her  two  children  to  her  and  whispered  her  final 
admonitions.  She  bade  them  be  good  to  one  another,  and  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  they  might  live,  as  they  had  been 
taught  by  her,  to  love  their  kin  and  worship  God.  Placing  her 
hand  on  Abe's  head  she  told  him  to  be  kind  to  his  father  and 
sister.  And  then  they  were  alone. 

The  mother  of  him  who  was  to  be  the  Liberator  of  a  race 
paid  her  debt  to  nature  in  the  very  heart  of  nature.  The 
weary  body  was  at  rest  and,  let  us  believe,  the  soul  found 
ineffable  peace  and  spiritual  understanding.  The  winds  in  the 
trees  chanted  a  requiem  for  her  while  the  majesty  of  death 
put  its  seal  upon  the  sad,  sweet  face  and  stilled  forever  the 
limbs  that  had  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  a  pioneer 
existence. 


Boyhood  25 


For  a  year  after  his  loss  Thomas  Lincoln  kept  the  home 
and  did  what  he  could  to  fill  the  place  of  the  departed  mother 
to  his  children.  But  no  matter  how  solicitous  he  may  have 
been  for  their  comfort,  his  care  must  have  been  of  the  most 
primitive  kind.  We  are  informed  that  the  boy  and  girl  slept 
on  a  bed  of  corn  husks  and  leaves  in  one  corner  of  the  living 
room.  Their  clothing  was  scant  and  ragged.  Their  food  was 
the  plainest  and  illy  prepared.  They  ran  wild  in  the  woods. 
Those  frequent  admonitions  to  duty  and  love  which  the 
mother  had  culled  from  her  experience  to  use  for  their  in- 
struction, no  longer  fed  their  young  minds  with  precious 
maxims.  They  were  waifs  in  a  wilderness,  subject  to  the 
thoughts  and  habits  of  a  community  made  up  of  the  rude  and 
uncultured.  But  the  great  brooding  spirit  of  Nature  wrapped 
them  about  and  poured  into  their  young  lives  the  balm  of  her 
immeasurable  tenderness. 

It  did  another  thing  that  had  a  tremendous  influence  on 
the  events  which  were  yet  in  the  womb  of  time.  It  moved 
Thomas  Lincoln  to  return  to  his  old  Kentucky  home  and 
bring  back  a  second  mother  for  his  children.  Sally  Bush  John- 
ston was  a  widow  of  some  means  and  Thomas  Lincoln  had 
once  sought  her  hand  in  marriage.  He  seemed  to  have  found 
her  as  lonely  in  her  widowhood  as  he  was  in  his  bereavement. 
His  wooing  was  brief.  The  marriage  followed  hard  upon,  and 
with  all  her  household  goods  they  came  to  the  Indiana 
clearing. 

Sally  Bush  Lincoln  almost  immediately  changed  the  crude 
cabin,  which  was  little  more  than  a  bare  shelter  from  the 
weather,  into  a  home.  Under  her  inspiration  Thomas  Lincoln 
set  to  work  to  improve  the  cabin,  inside  and  out,  and  the  little 
family  was  soon  enjoying  the  comforts  and  some  of  the  re- 
finements of  a  more  mature  civilization. 


26  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  new  mistress  immediately  took  young  Abe  to  her 
heart.  The  settled  melancholy,  which  was  a  large  part  of  his 
mother's  nature,  and  which  she  had  bequeathed  in  even  fuller 
measure  to  her  son,  had  no  place  in  the  homely,  motherly 
heart  of  the  woman  who  now  presided  over  the  destinies  of 
the  future  Emancipator.  She  was  a  practical,  commonsense 
sort,  with  an  inexhaustible  capacity  for  loving  and  with  that 
clear  understanding  of  others  which  is  an  attribute  of  such 
love.  She  seems  to  have  felt  from  the  first  that  the  slender, 
homely  backwoods  boy,  with  his  awkward  manners,  in- 
quisitive conversation,  and,  at  intervals,  sudden  bursts  of 
passion  which  flowed  over  into  utter  forgiveness,  was  des- 
tined for  some  great  adventure.  And  whatever  she  could  do  to 
keep  his  feet  in  the  right  path  she  did  unceasingly  and  whole- 
heartedly. There  is  continual  evidence  that  she  tried  to  peer 
through  the  clumsy  speech  into  his  heart,  and  prayed  that 
love  for  him  would  make  her  wise  to  understand  aright.  How 
well  she  succeeded,  the  words  and  acts  of  this  remarkable 
character  through  all  the  course  of  his  life  give  ample  proof. 
Abraham's  second  mother  brought  to  his  instruction  and 
development  qualities  and  virtues  which  were  necessary  to 
supplement  those  mystical  and  poetical  characteristics  be- 
queathed to  him  by  his  first  mother,  and  which,  without  such 
addition,  might  have  made  him  a  revolutionary  poet  but 
which  could  never  have  given  to  the  world  the  Lincoln  we 
know — the  patient,  far-seeing,  liberty-loving  Constitu- 
tionalist. 

In  Herndon's  "Life  of  Lincoln"  we  have  this  portrait  of 
the  practical  side  of  Sarah  Bush  Lincoln.  Having  described 
the  coming  of  the  creaking  wagon  loaded  with  its  furniture 
from  the  Johnston  home  in  Kentucky,  and  its  transfer  to  the 
bare  interior  of  the  cabin,  Herndon  goes  on  to  say: 


Boyhood  27 


"What  effect  the  new  family  (Mrs.  Johnston  had  three 
children  by  her  first  husband,  John,  Sarah  and  Matilda), 
their  collection  of  furniture,  cooking  utensils,  and  comfort- 
able bedding  must  have  had  on  the  astonished  and  mother- 
less pair,  who  from  the  door  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  forlorn 
cabin  watched  the  well-filled  wagon  as  it  came  creaking 
through  the  woods,  can  better  be  imagined  than  described. 
Surely  Sarah  and  Abe,  as  the  stores  and  supplies  were  rolled 
in  through  the  doorless  doorways,  must  have  believed  that  a 
golden  future  awaited  them.  The  presence  and  smile  of  a 
motherly  face  in  the  cheerless  cabin  radiated  sunshine  into 
every  neglected  corner.  If  the  Lincoln  mansion  did  not  in 
every  respect  correspond  to  the  representations  made  by  its 
owner  to  the  new  Mrs.  Lincoln  before  marriage,  the  latter 
gave  no  expression  of  disappointment  or  surprise.  With  truly 
womanly  courage  and  zeal  she  set  resolutely  to  work  to  make 
right  that  which  seemed  wrong.  Her  husband  was  made  to 
put  new  doors  and  windows  in  the  cabin.  The  cracks  between 
the  logs  were  plastered  up.  A  clothes  press  filled  the  space  be- 
tween the  chimney  jamb  and  the  wall,  and  the  mat  of  corn 
husks  and  leaves  on  which  the  children  had  slept  in  the  cor- 
ner gave  way  to  the  comfortable  luxuriance  of  a  feather  bed. 
She  washed  the  two  orphans  and  fitted  them  out  in  clothes 
taken  from  the  stores  of  her  own.  The  work  of  renovation  in 
and  around  the  cabin  continued  until  even  Thomas  Lincoln 
himself,  under  the  general  stimulus  of  the  new  wife's  pres- 
ence, caught  the  inspiration  and  developed  signs  of  intense 
activity." 

Sarah  Bush  is  described  by  her  granddaughter  in  after 
years  as  "a  very  tall  woman,  straight  as  an  Indian,  of  fair 
complexion,  and  was,  when  I  first  remember  her,  very  hand- 
some, sprightly,  talkative,  and  proud.  She  wore  her  hair 


28  Abraham  Lincoln 

curled  until  gray;  was  kind  hearted  and  very  charitable  and 
also  very  industrious." 

But  notwithstanding  her  thoroughly  practical  side,  the 
strain  of  mysticism,  which  crops  out  from  almost  every  per- 
son who  had  anything  to  do  with  Lincoln's  early  life,  had  its 
controlling  seat  in  this  good  woman's  nature;  for  does  she 
not  say  to  Herndon  after  the  death  of  President  Lincoln: 
"I  did  not  want  Abe  to  run  for  President,  and  I  did  not  want 
to  see  him  elected.  I  was  afraid  something  would  happen  to 
him,  and  when  he  came  down  to  see  me,  after  he  was  elected 
President,  I  still  felt,  and  my  heart  told  me,  that  something 
would  befall  him,  and  that  I  should  never  see  him  again." 

From  the  plain  cabin  in  the  Indiana  forest  Abraham  Lin- 
coln went  forth  to  the  first  school  he  ever  attended.  The 
teacher  was  Hazel  Dorsey  and  the  school  house  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  the  Lincoln  farm.  He  studied  assiduously  what 
books  he  had,  and  before  the  firelight  in  the  evening  prac- 
ticed compositions  on  the  back  of  a  wooden  shovel,  as  well 
as  with  pieces  of  chalk  on  the  logs  he  shaved  for  the  purpose. 
He  had  to  "knock  off"  school  when  there  was  any  work  on 
the  farm  or  in  the  woods  that  he  could  help  to  do,  so  that  a 
few  months  during  a  year  or  two  in  the  log  school  house  was 
all  the  schooling  he  got  at  this  time.  Then  the  neighborhood 
probably  concluded  it  could  not  afford  a  school  teacher,  as 
for  several  years  we  hear  no  more  of  Abe's  being  schooled:  or 
until  he  was  fourteen,  when  Andrew  Crawford  taught  for  a 
short  time,  and  again  when  he  was  seventeen,  when  he 
walked  four  miles  to  be  instructed  by  one  Swasey  and  be- 
came proficient  in  spelling  and  composed  several  "composi- 
tions" which  were  so  highly  considered  that  they  were  kept 
in  manuscript  until  they  became  a  part  of  the  history  of  a 
Nation's  martyr.  He  is  said  to  have  loved  his  books  and 


Boyhood  29 


made  every  effort  to  master  the  rudiments  of  an  education. 

Sarah  Bush  in  later  life  reported  that  Abe's  father  thought 
he  wasted  too  much  time  over  his  books  when  out  of  school, 
but  that  she  persuaded  him  to  let  the  boy  read  and  study  at 
home,  and  that  once  reconciled  to  the  unusual  thing  of  a 
backwoods  boy  having  a  real  hunger  for  books,  the  elder 
Lincoln  encouraged  the  lad  to  apply  himself  to  the  tasks. 
So  it  came  to  be  a  rule  in  the  house  that  when  Abe  was  at  his 
books  he  was  not  to  be  disturbed  but  left  to  read  until  he 
quit  of  his  own  accord. 

Like  Shakespeare,  with  his  Horn  Book  and  the  Bible,  Lin- 
coln in  his  school  days  had  very  few  books,  but  they  were 
well  worth  while,  the  same  Bible  from  which  the  poet  of  the 
purple  page  drank  such  deep  drafts,  a  spelling  book  with  its 
reading  lessons  culled  from  classic  literature,  and  some  les- 
sons in  arithmetic  set  down  by  the  teacher.  Few  fountains, 
but  clear  and  deep.  And  in  them  his  thirst  for  knowledge 
found  ever  increasing  satisfaction. 

He  was  as  fond  of  play  and  of  rough  and  tumble  sports  as 
any  of  the  other  boys  of  the  neighborhood.  He  was  very 
much  of  a  boy  and  liked  to  exercise  a  boy's  privileges  and 
prerogatives.  He  worked,  too,  swinging  his  ax  with  the 
woodsmen  of  experience.  But  his  hunger  for  knowledge 
caused  him  often  to  seem  to  loiter  at  his  tasks.  He  would  stop 
work  in  the  field  to  make  a  stump  speech  to  the  other  workers 
or  stretch  himself  on  the  grass  to  commit  a  bit  of  poetry  to 
memory.  This  method  of  getting  an  education  was  so  much 
a  part  of  his  nature  that  it  continued  throughout  his  life. 
When  he  was  helping  Offut  to  prepare  a  flat  boat  to  carry 
produce  to  New  Orleans,  his  employer  complained  of  his 
stolqp  moments  for  study  and  charged  him  with  being  lazy. 

"I  can  work,"  replied  the  gawky  Abe.  "My  father  taught 
me  to  work,  but  he  did  not  teach  me  to  love  it." 


Chapter  IV 

YOUTH 


YOUNG  ABRAHAM  shot  up  toward  physical  man- 
hood with  such  remarkable  rapidity  as  to  cause 
comment  even  among  the  group  of  frontiersmen 
who  might  look  for  sturdy  development  among  children 
living  altogether  in  the  open.  During  his  eleventh  year  he 
gained  two  inches  in  height.  He  grew  continually  tall  and 
wiry  until  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  stood  six  feet  two  in  his 
stockings,  if  he  had  any,  which  is  doubtful.  Buckskin 
trousers,  linsey-woolsey  shirt,  moccasins  and  a  squirrel-skin 
cap  were  his  continual  wear  from  childhood.  He  was  always 
grown  out  of  his  clothes  so  that  his  long  arms  and  legs  pro- 
truded far  beyond  the  sleeves  and  legs  of  his  garments.  He 
had  a  bushy  head  of  coal  black  hair,  rugged  features,  deep- 
set  eyes,  a  large  mouth,  and  big  hands  and  feet.  His  physical 
strength  was  prodigious  for  a  boy.  He  early  learned  to  use  it 
with  skill  in  running  and  wrestling  which  made  up  most  of 
the  sports  of  the  rural  community. 

But  life  within  this  awkward  frame  had  a  rhythmical  urge 
and  when  it  was  stirred  by  emotion  gave  quickness,  deftness 
and  a  certain  wild  grace  to  the  otherwise  uncouth  figure. 
His  nature  was  gentle  and  a  hereditary  melancholy  gave  a 
winning  sadness  to  his  features  which  was  one  of  the  most 
noticeable  characteristics  of  his  countenance. 


Youth  31 

Labor  with  small  return  is  the  lot  of  pioneers.  About  him 
the  boy  saw  men  and  women  slaving  from  daylight  to  dark 
at  clearing  the  forest,  or  tilling  the  small  bits  of  land  re- 
claimed from  the  tangled  skirts  of  wooded  hillsides.  With 
few  tools  and  no  instruction  they  worked  out  their  problems 
of  shelter,  clothing  and  the  culture  of  a  wilderness.  Constant 
use  of  those  primitive  tools  made  them  expert  in  applying 
them  to  their  necessities.  The  woodsman  came  finally  to 
swing  an  ax  with  the  accuracy  of  a  practiced  swordsman.  He 
could  fell  a  tree  and  leave  no  marks  upon  the  separated  trunk 
other  than  the  one  smooth  wound,  cut  with  the  certainty 
and  directness  that  marks  the  journey  of  a  surgeon's  knife. 
He  could  hew  to  the  line,  planks  for  his  puncheon  floor.  His 
ax  and  he  were  inseparable,  and  the  training  of  muscle  and 
mind  to  the  unison  required  for  so  many  thousand  skillful 
blows  was  an  education  on  concentration,  such  as  no  college 
curriculum  can  supply. 

Abraham  learned  all  these  things,  not  from  instruction  but 
from  experience.  He  labored  as  the  bee  labors,  or  the  ant, 
not  from  love  of  labor  but  from  the  urge  of  necessity.  Labor 
became  to  him  an  element  in  the  creation  of  a  social  scheme 
of  things.  It  was  as  necessary  as  breathing  to  life.  And  so 
there  came  into  his  heart  a  realization  of  man's  partnership 
with  Nature  in  the  fields  of  production;  not  faint  and  far 
away  and  shadowy,  as  it  must  have  been,  had  his  knowledge 
come  from  reading  books  alone,  but  direct  and  clear,  like  the 
stroke  of  his  woodman's  ax. 

Such  was  the  labor  of  the  humble  pioneer.  Across  the  line 
from  the  state  in  which  he  lived  were  other  states  in  which 
white  men  labored  not  at  all;  states  in  which  labor  was  con- 
sidered degrading  and  where  it  was  done  by  slaves  who  saw 
no  beauty  or  utility  in  it,  but  only  an  escape  from  punish- 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

ment.  Across  that  border,  so  close  that  their  cocks  and  dogs 
might  be  mutually  heard,  white  men  rode  in  their  carriages, 
or  upon  their  trained  horses,  followed  the  hounds  while  their 
black  slaves  sweated  to  give  them  delicate  food  and  rich 
raiment. 

About  the  crackling  log  fire  of  his  father's  cabin  on  long 
winter  nights  young  Lincoln  heard  stories  of  the  splendor  of 
those  southern  mansions;  their  pride  and  elegance,  their 
worship  of  ancestry  and  their  scorn  of  those  of  their  own 
color  who  were  born  to  toil  and  to  bear  the  burden  of  exist- 
ence. He  heard  in  those  recitals  the  echo  of  the  blows  of  the 
lash  upon  the  backs  of  human  beings,  and,  as  he  afterwards 
said,  realized  even  then  that  a  man  who  could  believe  such 
things  were  not  wrong  must  have  a  nature  that  could  see  the 
lash  cut  into  the  back  of  another  without  feeling  it  upon 
his  own. 

During  these  years  his  reading  was  enlarged  by  the  addi- 
tion of  such  books  as"  Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  a  "History  of  the  United  States,"  and  the  "Life 
of  Washington."  A  Louisville  newspaper  came  into  the 
neighborhood  and  this  he  scanned  for  reports  of  the  world 
beyond  his  ken.  He  scanned  the  pages  of  his  dog-eared 
"Arabian  Nights"  for  the  pleasure  of  journeys  into  the  realm 
of  the  mythical  and  legendary. 

The  life  of  labor  by  white  men  around  him  with  its 
drudgery  and  privations,  its  elements  of  actuality  and  indi- 
vidual independence,  forced  into  his  growing  mind  compari- 
sons with  that  of  slave  labor.  This,  together  with  the  clear 
statements  of  freedom  and  justice  which  enrich  the  pages  of 
every  book  he  is  known  to  have  had  in  his  hands  from  child- 
hood to  maturity,  were  woven  into  the  fibres  of  his  being. 
The  records  tell  of  his  passion  for  making  addresses  to  his  boy 


Youth  33 

playmates  upon  every  possible  occasion.  Such  an  evidence  of 
the  urge  of  a  boy's  mind  to  utterance  presages  deep  convic- 
tion, however  crude  their  expression.  Macaulay  writing 
poetry  at  nine,  and  many  other  instances  of  such  early  de- 
sires of  genius  to  express  itself,  go  far  toward  giving  us  an 
understanding  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  mind  at  this  time. 

As  a  boy  Lincoln  recognized  the  dignity  of  free  labor  and 
the  insult  to  his  own  nature  of  American  slavery.  The  feel- 
ing of  personal  degradation  from  such  an  institution  broad- 
ened and  deepened  with  the  years.  He  ever  maintained  a 
positive  and  unswerving  attitude  toward  the  right  of  every 
man  to  the  bread  which  is  the  product  of  his  own  labor.  The 
whole  subject  is  thrown  into  one  compact  sentence  in  one  of 
his  replies  to  Douglas  who  suggested  that  Lincoln  proposed 
a  social  equality  of  the  races. 

"I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas,"  he  said,  "that  he  (the 
Negro)  is  not  my  equal  in  many  respects — certainly  not  in 
color,  perhaps  not  in  moral  and  intellectual  endowments. 
But  in  the  right  to  eat  the  bread,  without  leave  of  anybody 
else,  which  his  hands  earn,  he  is  my  equal,  and  the  equal  of 
Judge  Douglass,  and  the  equal  of  every  living  man." 

The  question  of  labor  as  a  political  issue  was  not  up  in 
Lincoln's  time,  as  it  has  been  since  and  as  it  is  now,  when  it 
is  rapidly  becoming  the  one  mighty  question,  not  only  of  our 
country  but  of  the  whole  world.  Fundamentally  Lincoln 
founded  his  whole  principle  of  the  rights  of  man  on  labor. 
He  said  plainly  on  two  public  occasions  that,  "Inasmuch  as 
most  good  things  are  produced  by  labor,  it  follows  that  all 
such  things  ought  to  belong  to  those  whose  labor  has  pro- 
duced them.  But  it  has  happened  in  all  ages  of  the  world 
that  some  have  labored,  and  others,  without  labor,  have  en- 
joyed a  large  portion  of  the  fruits.  This  is  wrong  and  should 


34  Abraham  Lincoln 

not  continue.  To  secure  to  each  laborer  the  whole  product  of 
his  labor  as  nearly  as  possible  is  a  worthy  object  of  any  good 
government." 

On  his  way  to  the  Capitol  for  his  first  Inauguration,  he  was 
surprised  at  Cincinnati  by  a  delegation  of  two  thousand 
German  workmen  whose  spokesman  addressed  him  as  the 
champion  of  free  homesteads,  and  concluded: 

"We  firmly  adhere  to  the  principles  which  directed  our 
votes  in  your  favor.  We  trust  that  you,  the  self-reliant,  be- 
cause self-made  man,  will  uphold  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  against  the  secret  treachery  and  avowed  treason.  If  to 
this  end  you  should  in  turn  be  in  need  of  men,  the  German 
free  workingmen,  with  others,  will  rise  as  one  man  at  your 
call  ready  to  risk  their  lives  in  the  effort  to  maintain  the 
victory  already  won  by  freedom  over  slavery." 

In  reply  Lincoln  said:  "I  deem  it  my  duty  to  wait  until  the 
last  moment  for  the  development  of  the  present  national 
difficulties  before  I  express  myself  decidedly  as  to  what  course 
I  shall  pursue.  I  hope,  then,  not  to  be  false  to  anything  that 
you  expect  of  me."  He  agreed  then  that  workingmen  are  the 
basis  of  all  government,  and  that  a  man's  duty  is  "  to  improve 
not  only  his  own  condition,  but  to  assist  in  ameliorating  the 
conditions  of  mankind."  So  far  as  government  lands  could 
be  disposed  of,  he  was,  he  said,  "in  favor  of  cutting  up  the 
wild  land  into  parcels,  so  that  every  poor  man  may  have  a 
home." 

In  these  two  speeches  he  synthesized  and  vitalized  the 
labor  problem;  not  of  the  individual,  not  of  the  State,  not  of 
the  separate  States,  but  of  the  world,  universally,  just  as  he 
had  synthesized  it  in  a  direct  way  in  the  slave  question  with 
the  declaration  that  a  man  was  entitled  to  eat  the  bread  his 
labor  had  produced. 


Youth  35 

Compare  with  the  broader  vision  of  Lincoln,  the  labor 
conditions  of  today  with  some  labor  leaders  holding  that  the 
separate  labor  union  is  a  law  unto  itself,  without  taking  into 
consideration  Lincoln's  admonition  that  a  man's  duty  is  "  to 
improve  his  own  condition  but  also  to  assist  in  ameliorating 
the  condition  of  mankind." 


Chapter  V 

ANHOOD 


tjk  T  THE  AGE  of  seventeen  Lincoln  was  the  tallest  as 
/vk  well  as  the  strongest  man, physically, in  all  the  coun- 
1  jjk-try  round.  He  was  equally  superior  in  intellect  and 
passion.  He  had  mastered  whatever  books  had  come  to 
his  hand,  including  stray  books  on  the  law.  He  had  com- 
posed an  essay  on  American  Government  calling  attention 
to  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  Constitution.  He  had  given 
utterance  to  a  pronouncement  on  temperance  which  won  the 
approbation  as  well  as  the  wonder  of  a  local  preacher  of  re- 
nown, and  which  found  publication  in  an  Ohio  paper.  He  had 
managed  a  ferry  boat  across  the  Ohio,  which  he  afterward 
declared  to  be  the  "toughest  work  a  young  man  could  be 
made  to  do."  The  following  year  he  made  an  excursion  into 
the  outer  world  by  way  of  a  flatboat  loaded  with  provisions, 
down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  to  New  Orleans,  re- 
turning by  steamboat  and  on  foot  across  country,  an  adven- 
ture of  some  moment  among  a  people  to  whom  a  visit  from 
one  settlement  to  another  was  considered  a  journey  worth 
recounting.  He  had  felt  the  magnificence  of  the  Father  of 
Waters  as  it  bore  him  upon  its  bosom  between  its  rugged 
shores  and  past  the  far-stretched  plantations  that  bordered 
its  swiftly  broadening  currents.  He  had  had  opportunity  of 
contrasting  the  humble  life  of  frontier  civilization  under  in- 


Manhood  37 


dividual  freedom  with  the  busy  hum  of  a  metropolitan  city 
where  only  the  few  were  free  and  the  many  were  bound  to 
serfdom. 

Of  these  experiences  was  born  the  desire  for  action  inde- 
pendent of  restraint.  He  longed  to  strike  out  into  the  broad 
world  where  he  might  try  for  himself  those  powers  which  he 
felt  already  swelling  in  his  bosom.  But  his  loyalty  to  the  code 
that  bound  him  to  his  father  until  his  majority,  held  him 
back.  In  his  perplexity,  halting  between  desire  and  duty,  he 
sought  the  advice  of  William  Wood,  a  lawyer  by  whose  per- 
mission he  had  nosed  among  the  few  law  books  of  which  his 
office  boasted.  His  plan  was  to  get  a  place  on  one  of  the  boats 
plying  up  and  down  the  river.  His  lawyer  friend. presented 
the  moral  duty  that  rested  on  him  to  remain  with  his  father 
until  he  could  legally  strike,  out  for  himself,  or  until  his 
parent  had  released  him  from  his  filial  obligation.  He  re- 
turned home  seriously  determined  not  to  evade  the  claim 
from  which  in  a  few  months  he  would  be  finally  released. 

And  now  came  to  the  little  group  of  settlers  of  the  logged- 
off  lands,  wooing  tales  of  a  country  farther  west  where  there 
were  sun-kissed  prairies  whose  splendid  soil  offered  rich  re- 
turns to  the  husbandman.  The  call  of  the  setting  sun  was  in 
the  blood  of  Father  Lincoln  and  in  the  year  of  the  son's 
majority  the  family  moved  from  Indiana  to  a  new  home  in 
Macon  County,  Illinois.  All  the  children  had  now  grown  to 
man's  and  woman's  estate.  Two  weddings  had  been  cele- 
brated in  the  family.  Sarah  Lincoln,  the  daughter,  had  been 
married  to  Aaron  Grigsby,  a  young  man  living  in  the  vicin- 
ity, and  Mrs.  Lincoln's  daughter  had  left  the  Lincoln  cabin 
for  a  new  home.  The  new  families  joined  in  the  emigration. 
Lincoln's  sister,  Sarah,  died  two  years  later  in  childbirth, 
the  second  great  grief  that  came  to  chasten  the  heart  of  the 
lonely,  studious  son  of  the  forest. 


38  Abraham  Lincoln 

From  the  deep  woods  of  the  Indiana  home  to  the  broad, 
verdant  prairie  lands  of  central  Illinois  was  a  transition  which 
served  to  give  new  form  and  color  to  young  Lincoln's  aspira- 
tions. Here  were  rolling  prairies,  gently  wooded  slopes,  clear 
water  courses  flashing  in  the  sunlight,  and  rich  soil  needing 
only  the  plow's  shining  blade  to  prepare  it  for  the  seeds  and 
fruits  of  husbandry.  Dennis  Hanks,  a  relative  of  Lincoln's 
mother,  had  gone  forward  to  reconnoiter  and  select  the  land, 
and  he  had  chosen  a  pleasing  prospect  on  which  the  new 
home  was  to  be  built.  Having  helped  to  complete  the  new 
cabin  and  fence  in  a  tract  of  the  farm,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
now  twenty-one,  stepped  forth  into  the  freedom  he  had 
longed  for.  Separation  from  his  home  people  meant  a  great 
deal  to  him.  He  needed  companions.  From  childhood  he  had 
been  intermittently  retiring  and  social.  Whatever  he  dis- 
covered in  his  reading  or  play  that  carried  laughter  or  wisdom 
in  its  substance  he  hastened  to  deliver  with  his  own  inven- 
tions to  his  friends.  His  whole  life  expressed  his  hunger  for 
companionship.  He  read  books  and  practiced  recitations  in  a 
group  of  his  boyhood  friends  just  as  afterwards  he  composed 
the  Gettysburg  Address,  on  his  way  to  the  dedication. 

What  close  companionship  meant  to  Lincoln  is  shown  in 
every  detail  of  his  history  that  has  been  unearthed  by  his 
biographers.  As  a  child  he  sought  to  know  everybody  in  his 
neighborhood.  The  proprietor  of  the  village  store  was  his 
confidant,  the  school  teacher  his  friend  and  adviser,  the 
lawyer  his  model  in  speech  and  action.  He  learned  all  the 
ballads  current  in  the  region  and  recited  them  over  and  over 
to  whomsoever  would  listen  and  wherever  the  slightest  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself.  From  half  melancholy  moments  of 
retirement,  or  from  poring  over  a  school  book  or  one  of  the 
few  works  of  the  imagination  which  he  knew,  he  would  hurry 


Manhood  39 


forth  to  seek  an  audience  for  his  literary  discoveries.  His 
natural  aptitude  for  mimicry  won  him  warm  welcome  in  any 
company,  young  or  old. 

And  the  friends  he  made  he  held  without  effort. 

On  each  stage  of  his  journey  from  his  Kentucky  birthplace 
to  his  home  in  Illinois  his  faithful  attendants  are  seen  by  his 
side,  and  the  procession  moves  with  the  directness  of  a  Greek 
tragedy  toward  its  destined  goal.  Crude  in  construction, 
homely  in  form,  drawn  by  patient  oxen  over  unbroken  trails 
through  a  wild,  rough  country,  the  creaking  wagons  that 
held  the  few  pieces  of  furniture  and  farming  tools  of  the 
Lincolns,  the  Grigsbys,  the  Hanks,  could  they  have  had  the 
illumination  of  prophecy,  would  have  been  shown  as  golden 
chariots  drawn  by  winged  steeds  directed  by  the  spirit  of 
advancement.  It  required  twenty-one  years  to  move  this 
young  Prince  of  Liberty  from  Kentucky  to  Illinois.  But  at 
no  period  of  the  journey  was  he  without  those  familiars  who, 
knowingly  or  unknowingly,  bowed  to  his  will  and  were  as 
faithful  and  as  loyal  to  this  young  son  of  Nature,  as  ever 
were  courtiers  to  their  best  loved  prince  in  the  palace  of  the 
King. 

Homely  indeed  in  reality  those  scenes  of  Lincoln's  life  from 
childhood  to  majority,  but  strip  them  of  their  outward  cover- 
ing and  view  them  in  the  light  of  the  great  events  that  fol- 
lowed, grew  out  of  them  in  fact,  and  no  prince  the  world  has 
known  had  such  gorgeous  clouds  trailing  about  him,  nor  such 
great-hearted  followers  and  companions  as  this  awkward 
youth  in  his  linsey-woolsey  shirt  and  buckskin  trousers,  who 
found  himself  reflected  in  the  hearts  of  what  he  was  pleased 
later  to  call  the  great  plain  people. 

Nature  builds  with  patient  wisdom.  Mountain  peaks  that 
influence  the  air  currents;  lakes  and  rivers  that  bead  the  con- 


40  Abraham  Lincoln 

tinents,  as  well  as  those  heroic  figures  that  star  the  pages  of 
man's  progress,  are  all  monuments  to  the  Supreme  intelli- 
gence of  the  Everlasting  Builder  of  the  Universe,  with  its 
endless  procession  of  harmonious  wonders. 

To  the  library  student  Abraham  Lincoln  must  always  seem 
a  baffiing  puzzle.  But  to  the  divine  Psalmist  who  saw  the  sun 
as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  chamber  and  rejoicing  as  a 
strong  man  to  run  a  race,  he  would  have  been  accepted  for 
what  he  was,  a  universal  man  brought  forth  from  the  womb 
of  time,  to  fill  an  appointed  place  in  the  still  unrevealed 
Scheme  of  Things.  The  Andes  and  the  Sierras  were  not  laid 
of  carved  stones  with  a  trowel,  but  lifted  mightily  on  the 
wings  of  fire,  amid  the  roar  and  tumult  of  forces  that  defy 
the  loftiest  concepts  of  the  imagination. 

So  too,  was  Abraham  Lincoln  created.  Generations  of  an- 
cestral struggle  amid  the  privations  and  dangers  of  groups  of 
exiles,  forming  the  foundations  of  a  new  civilization,  were 
present  at  his  birth,  and  the  fires  that  were  to  cause  an 
upheaval  in  that  young  Nation,  and  from  the  throes  of  which 
it  was  to  emerge  to  be  the  loftiest  peak  of  human  liberty, 
threw  a  lurid  light  about  the  toddling  footsteps  of  his 
childhood.  His  young  life  was  fed  by  primal  forces  stirring  in 
the  hearts  of  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him.  In  plain 
words  and  rugged  oaths  anti-slavery  pioneers  assailed  his 
ears  with  protests  against  an  institution  which  not  only  held 
the  black  men  in  bondage,  but  placed  the  products  of  free 
labor  and  sacrifice  in  competition  with  the  products  of  toil 
that  brought  no  reward  to  the  toilers  beyond  the  life  of  an  ox 
yoked  to  the  plow  and  goaded  to  uttermost  exertion.  On  such 
food  his  soul  was  fed.  On  such  food  it  grew  toward  that 
sublime  power  and  passion  which  found  utterance  in  the 
great  proclamation  which  struck  the  shackles  from  the  limbs 


Manhood  41 


of  four  million  slaves  and  set  in  motion  a  wave  of  liberty 
which  will  not  cease  to  spread  in  the  souls  of  men  until  there 
is  no  longer  one  bondman  left  to  cry  out  against  the  injustice 
of  his  fellow  man. 

Having  grown  and  developed  in  this  atmosphere  of  fellow- 
ship, Lincoln's  proposal  to  go  alone  into  the  world  must  have 
required  considerable  determination,  no  matter  how  strong 
the  pull  toward  individual  independence  may  have  been. 
He  needed  hourly  companionship,  and  such  companionship 
as  only  those  rough,  honest  friends  whom  he  had  known  from 
childhood  could  supply.  Some  prophetic  whisper  in  his  soul 
must  have  informed  him  that  in  the  work  he  was  to  be  set  to 
do,  he  would  have  to  find  his  strength  in  himself,  for  he  seems 
to  have  cut  clear  of  all  his  former  associates  although  his  first 
adventures  were  only  a  few  miles  from  the  paternal  cabin. 

He  was  trying  his  right  to  walk  alone,  and  testing  his  abil- 
ity to  hold  a  steady  pace  with  unsupported  strides.  The 
difficulties  he  encountered,  the  disappointments  he  met  with, 
the  failures  which  must  have  tried  him  sorely,  and  the  final 
tragedy  of  the  great  passion  that  tore  his  heartstrings  up  by 
the  roots  and  threatened  reason  itself,  like  furnace  fires  of 
suffering,  fitted  his  soul  to  bear  its  future  burdens,  as  his  boy- 
hood struggles  with  physical  nature  had  fitted  his  body  to 
bear  the  burdens  of  a  Nation's  woes  and  fight  a  Nation's 
battles  in  the  supreme  test  of  democratic  government.  In  the 
years  that  followed  he  used  the  skill  he  had  acquired  from 
experience  in  manual  labor  to  supply  the  necessities  of  exist- 
ence. All  energies  of  mind  and  body  beyond  this  were  bent 
on  acquiring  knowledge,  on  winning  new  followers  to  take 
the  place  of  those  he  had  left  at  the  old  home,  and  in  cutting 
away  the  debris  of  luxuriance  of  expression  from  the  state- 
ments of  naked  truth,  with  the  keen  strokes  of  his  intellect, 


42  Abraham  Lincoln 

as  with  the  keen  blade  of  his  ax  he  had  cut  away  the  luxuri- 
ance of  the  forest  to  bare  the  soil  for  husbandry. 

Lincoln's  methods  for  securing  the  ends  he  had  in  view 
were  as  original  and  peculiar  to  himself  as  those  of  Nature. 
Striking  out,  he  did  not  hurry  to  some  pretentious  settle- 
ment. He  found  food  for  his  grazing  near  by.  He  did  what- 
ever work  came  to  his  hand,  and  it  took  him  a  whole  year  to 
reach  any  sort  of  permanent  home  at  New  Salem.  During  this 
time  he  read  whatever  books  of  history,  government,  ro- 
mance, or  philosophy  he  could  lay  hands  on  and  made  ora- 
tions to  audiences  of  unresponsive  stumps  or  whispering 
groves. 

He  made  acquaintances  which  he  won  into  close  friend- 
ships by  his  adaptability  to  their  personalities  and  under- 
standing. He  moved  among  the  rough  and  crude,  using  their 
language,  accepting  their  conventions  and  joining  in  their 
sports  and  amusements.  He  did  not  shun  evil  but  was  never 
tainted  by  it.  He  taught  morals  by  applying  the  humors  of 
life  to  the  false  estimates  of  life.  He  used  his  physical  strength 
to  win  first  place  in  the  hearts  of  companies  of  border  ruffians, 
and  followed  this  advantage  to  instil  in  their  minds  a  respect 
for  fundamental  truths  with  penetrating  precision.  His  sym- 
pathies were  as  broad  and  deep  as  his  conceptions  of  life  were 
clean  and  wholesome.  Wisdom  grew  with  the  practice  of 
wisdom.  He  soon  discovered  that  in  a  trial  of  wit  as  in  a  trial 
of  strength  he  had  no  need  to  fear  any  immediate  opponent. 

So  his  reputation  grew.  And  when  Denton  Offut,  a  local 
promoter  whose  operations  extended  up  and  down  the  Sanga- 
mon River,  having  a  project  on  foot  to  build  a  flatboat  and 
send  a  stock  of  provisions  to  New  Orleans,  looked  about  for 
some  one  to  be  captain  of  the  adventure,  he  settled  on  Lin- 
coln. Lincoln's  previous  journey  to  that  city  for  a  similar 


Manhood  43 


purpose  probably  led  Offut  to  his  choice.  With  the  help  of 
John  Hanks  and  John  Johnston,  who  came  to  join  their 
former  boy  companion  in  the  enterprise,  these  three  men, 
skilled  in  making  much  with  a  few  crude  tools,  completed 
the  boat,  made  the  journey,  and  returned,  the  promoter 
counting  a  fair  profit  on  his  investment. 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  New  Orleans  that  Lincoln  is 
said  to  have  witnessed  the  public  auction  of  a  slave  girl.  John 
Hanks  furnished  Herndon  with  the  following  account  of  it. 

"One  morning  in  our  rambles  over  the  city  we  passed  a 
slave  auction.  A  vigorous  and  comely  mulatto  girl  was  being 
sold.  She  underwent  a  thorough  examination  at  the  hands  of 
the  bidders;  they  pinched  her  flesh  and  made  her  trot  up  and 
down  the  room  like  a  horse  to  show  how  she  moved,  and  in 
order,  as  the  auctioneer  said,  that  'bidders  might  easily  sat- 
isfy themselves*  whether  the  article  they  were  offering  to  buy 
was  sound  or  not.  The  whole  thing  was  so  revolting  that 
Lincoln  moved  away  from  the  scene  with  a  deep  feeling  of 
'unconquerable  hate/  Bidding  his  companions  follow  him,  he 
said,  'By  God,  boys,  let's  get  away  from  this.  If  ever  I  get  a 
chance  to  hit  that  thing  (meaning  slavery)  I'll  hit  it  hard." 

Returning  to  St.  Louis  by  boat  the  party  separated,  Hanks 
and  Offut  going  to  Springfield  while  Lincoln  and  Johnston 
followed  the  road  to  Coles  County,  Illinois,  to  which  point 
Thomas  Lincoln  had  moved.  Having  paid  his  paternal  visit 
and  settled  the  pretentions  of  one  Daniel  Needham,  a  famous 
wrestler  who  challenged  the  returned  boatman  to  a  test  of 
strength,  Lincoln  made  his  way  again  to  New  Salem.  This 
was  in  August,  1831. 

A  few  days  after  Lincoln's  arrival  Offut  put  in  an  appear- 
ance with  the  statement  that  he  had  a  stock  of  merchandise 
on  the  way  from  Beardstown.  He  immediately  retained  the 


44  Abraham  Lincoln 

services  of  Lincoln  to  assist  him  in  marketing  the  goods  when 
they  should  arrive.  The  young  adventurer  put  in  the  inter- 
vening time  making  himself  popular  as  a  story  teller,  lending 
ready  assistance  to  any  one  having  a  difficult  task  on  hand, 
and  devouring  whatever  printed  matter  fell  under  his  observ- 
ing eye.  An  election  proceeding  and  Mentor  Graham,  a  school 
teacher  of  considerable  learning,  having  the  matter  in  charge, 
noted  Lincoln  lingering  near  and  asked  him  if  he  could  write. 

"I  can  make  a  few  rabbit  tracks,"  was  the  good-natured 
reply. 

He  was  put  to  work  and  proved  such  a  careful  and  accurate 
clerk  that  Graham  became  interested  at  once.  During  the 
afternoon  when  things  were  dragging  a  little  Lincoln  enter- 
tained the  voters  with  stories  which  proved  so  palatable  to 
his  audience  that  he  was  the  center  of  an  animated  crowd  for 
the  entire  evening  following  the  counting  of  the  votes. 

A  few  days  later  Lincoln  was  employed  by  Dr.  Nelson,  who 
after  the  style  of  the  dignitaries  of  later  days,  started  with 
his  family  for  Texas  in  his  "private  conveyance" — which  in 
this  instance  was  a  flatboat,  "The  Texas. "  Lincoln  was  hired 
to  pilot  the  vessel  through  the  Illinois  River.  Arriving  at 
Beardstown  the  pilot  was  discharged  and  returned  on  foot 
across  the  sand  hills  to  New  Salem. 

OfFut's  merchandise  having  arrived,  Lincoln  was  placed 
in  charge.  A  country  store  in  those  days  was  the  meeting 
place  of  all  the  male  gossips  of  the  village.  Lincoln  generally 
had  an  audience  for  his  quaint  fables  and  striking  parables. 
If  they  were  not  basically  his  own,  his  original  phrasing,  art 
of  mimicry  and  telling  gestures  made  them  so.  Offut,  a  man 
of  loud  activities,  deep  potations,  but  withal  warm-hearted 
and  generous,  was  proud  of  the  abilities  of  his  talented  clerk 
and  boasted  without  stint  of  his  mental  and  physical  prowess. 


Manhood  45 


He  challenged  the  world  to  combat  in  the  name  of  Lincoln, 
either  in  debate  or  in  feats  of  strength  and  skill.  It  is  a  well- 
established  fact  that  Lincoln  during  this  period,  by  the  aid 
of  a  harness  he  himself  constructed  of  straps  and  ropes,  lifted 
a  dead  weight  of  1,999  pounds. 

At  Clary's  Grove  lived  a  set  of  boys  who  were  the  terror  of 
the  entire  region.  Such  groups  have  ever  been  the  natural 
product  of  American  frontier  settlements.  The  Clary  Grove 
boys  headed  by  Jack  Armstrong  took  up  the  boastful  chal- 
lenge of  Offut,  and  proposed  a  wrestling  bout  between  Arm- 
strong and  Lincoln.  Not  without  protest  Lincoln  finally 
agreed  to  the  match.  He  was  now  fully  matured,  stood  six 
feet  four  in  his  stockings,  and  weighed  234  pounds.  Arm- 
strong was  bulky  and  strong  as  an  ox.  During  the  struggle 
and  when  Lincoln  was  getting  the  best  of  the  tussle,  the 
Clary  Grove  crowd  broke  into  the  ring  and  attempted  foul 
tactics  to  save  their  champion  from  defeat.  This  so  enraged 
Lincoln  that  he  caught  his  antagonist  by  the  throat,  lifted 
him  bodily  from  the  ground,  shook  him  like  a  rag,  and  flung 
him  prostrate  out  of  the  ring.  So  impressed  were  the  Clary 
Grove  boys  with  this  exhibition  of  strength  and  the  righteous 
anger  of  the  young  wrestler,  that  they  became  at  once  his 
advocates.  From  this  time  forward  Armstrong  was  his  warm 
friend,  and  his  wife  Hannah,  and  all  others  of  the  Clary 
Grove  contingent  welcomed  the  new  champion  to  their  circle. 
They  gave  him  loyal  support  in  all  his  appeals  to  the  public 
and  when  he  ran  for  office  discarded  their  party  affiliations 
to  give  him  their  votes.  Lincoln  appreciated  their  friendship 
and  support  and  in  after  years  proved  his  gratitude  by  sav- 
ing one  member  of  the  Armstrong  family  from  the  gallows. 

But  neither  the  interests  of  the  store  nor  the  seductions  of 
athletic  exhibitions  could  keep  the  young  student  from  his 


46  Abraham  Lincoln 

books.  His  determination  to  have  knowledge  was  the  main- 
spring of  his  being.  He  studied  in  season  and  out  of  season. 
The  store  counter  supplied  him  with  a  place  to  stretch  his 
long  figure,  and  with  a  bolt  of  calico  under  his  head  and  a 
book  before  his  face  he  made  the  lax  hours  of  trade  yield  him 
deep  draughts  of  the  best  thought  of  the  world.  But  true  to 
his  boyhood  habit,  he  was  ever  anxious  to  divide  his  mental 
treasures  with  anyone  who  happened  along.  He  read  books 
while  he  walked  through  the  streets.  He  read  them  seated  on 
store  boxes  in  the  shadow  of  a  building.  His  library  was  his 
armpit  and  it  was  seldom  without  one  or  more  volumes  to 
answer  his  needs.  Following  a  suggestion  of  Mentor  Graham 
he  hunted  up  one  Vaner  who  was  reputed  to  own  a  copy  of 
Kirkham's  Grammar,  and  having  secured  the  coveted  vol- 
ume began  diligently  to  master  the  science  of  the  English 
language.  He  delved  into  Arithmetic  also.  And  when  Offut, 
in  the  words  of  Lincoln,  "petered  out"  and  the  store  passed 
into  other  hands,  Lincoln  continued  in  New  Salem  making 
friends  and  gaining  knowledge  and  wisdom  after  his  own 
original  fashion. 

In  the  spring  of  1832,  New  Salem  was  thrilled  with  the 
news  that  a  steamboat  was  on  its  way  down  the  Sangamon. 
The  navigability  of  this  river  was  one  of  the  live  questions  of 
the  day  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  the  people  of  Spring- 
field and  New  Salem  made  great  preparations  to  welcome  the 
coming  of  Captain  Vincent  Bogue's  "Talisman,"  as  the  boat 
was  named,  and  which  the  enterprising  captain  was  bringing 
from  Cincinnati.  On  the  day  of  her  arrival  all  the  people 
round  and  about  New  Salem  were  gathered  to  make  fitting 
demonstration  of  joy.  The  boat  tied  up  at  Bogue's  mill  and 
there  was  much  cheering,  songs,  speeches  and  general  rejoic- 
ing. Lincoln,  who  with  a  company  of  axmen  had  cleared  the 


Manhood  47 


branches  from  over  the  stream,  took  advantage  of  the  occa- 
sion to  increase  his  acquaintance  and  popularity.  And  while 
the  steamboat  was  destined  to  destruction  at  the  end  of  the 
voyage  and  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  finally  aban- 
doned, the  theme  served  Lincoln  for  campaign  material  a 
year  later,  when  he  made  his  race  for  a  seat  in  the  State 
Legislature. 


Chapter  VI 

PURIFYING  FIRES 


THE  EXCITEMENT  occasioned  by  the  arrival  and 
departure  of  the  Talisman  had  hardly  subsided  when 
the  Black  Hawk  War  broke  out  and  Lincoln  was 
chosen  Captain  of  a  company  of  volunteers  to  combat  the 
wily  old  Indian  Chieftain.  It  was  his  first  official  trust  and 
he  prized  the  distinction  to  its  full  worth.  His  company  was 
composed  of  the  Clary  Grove  boys  and  others  of  their  ilk, 
wild  young  fellows  unused  to  discipline  of  any  kind,  and  the 
young  and  inexperienced  captain  found  them  difficult  to 
manage.  Through  their  disregard  of  law  he  met  the  first 
public  humiliation  of  his  career.  A  number  of  the  recruits  one 
night  broke  into  the  quarters  of  the  regular  army  officers  and 
carried  off  by  stealth  a  goodly  supply  of  wines  and  liquors 
which  they  drank  during  the  night.  Morning  found  them 
unable  to  resume  their  march.  An  investigation  followed,  and 
their  innocent  captain  was  condemned  to  wear  a  wooden 
sword  for  two  days,  because  of  their  escapade.  What  chagrin 
this  undeserved  disgrace  must  have  cost  the  temperamental 
Lincoln  can  be  imagined,  but  he  bore  it  with  dignified  calm 
however  deep  his  resentment. 

During  this  campaign  Lincoln  suffered  a  second  humilia- 
tion at  the  hands  of  Soldier  Thompson,  who  managed  to 
throw  him  twice  in  succession.  A  footrace  between  the  two 


Purifying  Fires  49 

followed  in  which  Lincoln  was  also  defeated.  The  overthrow 
of  their  Captain  champion  did  not  lessen  the  confidence  of 
his  men  in  him.  They  gave  him  obedience  and  respect  in  full, 
something  regular  army  officers  were  unable  to  win  from 
them,  no  matter  what  the  occasion. 

An  incident  of  this  campaign  of  which  Lincoln  was  the 
central  figure,  was  prophetic  of  his  conduct  under  many 
similar  but  far  more  trying  circumstances  later  in  life.  An  old 
Indian,  hungry  and  helpless,  strayed  into  camp.  The  volun- 
teers were  for  killing  him  at  once,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  savage  produced  a  letter  from  General  Cass,  recom- 
mending him  for  his  past  kind  and  faithful  services  to  the 
Whites.  They  pilloried  him  as  a  spy  and  were  bent  on  making 
an  example  of  him.  They  might  have  put  their  threats  into 
execution  had  not  their  tall  Captain  appeared  upon  the 
scene.  Becoming  aware  of  their  purpose,  Lincoln,  his  face 
swarthy  with  resolution  and  rage,  interposed  between  them 
and  their  intended  victim.  Lincoln's  determined  look  and 
demand  that,  "It  must  not  be  done,"  obtained  obedience. 
But  one  of  the  volunteers,  bolder  than  his  fellows,  cried  out: 
"This  is  cowardly  on  your  part,  Mr.  Lincoln." 

The  Captain,  towering  in  lonely  power,  answered  directly: 
"If  any  man  thinks  I  am  a  coward  let  him  test  it."  And  there 
were  none  to  take  up  the  challenge. 

The  grateful  Indian  was  released,  and  Lincoln's  authority 
established. 

The  volunteers  were  finally  discharged  and  Lincoln,  with 
the  others,  returned  to  New  Salem  just  before  the  state  elec- 
tion. During  their  campaign  against  the  Indians,  the  volun- 
teers had  declared  Lincoln  should  be  their  candidate  for  the 
Legislature  and  he  was  accordingly  presented  for  that  posi- 
tion by  almost  the  entire  community.  He  had  the  friendship 


50  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  the  neighborhood  and  the  few  mishaps  of  his  career  as  a 
soldier  had  only  aroused  their  sympathy.  Lincoln  allied  him- 
self with  the  Whig  organization  and  championed  its  prin- 
ciples. His  opponents  were  Jackson  men.  But  party  lines  were 
not  closely  drawn  in  New  Salem.  The  man  rather  than  the 
Party  must  have  their  allegiance.  In  his  first  speech  of  the 
campaign  and  just  as  he  was  beginning  his  address,  a  fight 
was  started.  Lincoln,  seeing  a  friend  getting  worsted  in  the 
row,  hurried  from  the  platform,  grasped  the  offender  and 
threw  him  ten  feet  away.  Returning  to  his  station  he  deliv- 
ered the  following  address: 

"Gentlemen  and  Fellow  Citizens:  I  presume  you  all  know 
who  I  am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have  been  so- 
licited by  many  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Legis- 
lature. My  politics  are  short  and  sweet  like  the  old  woman's 
dance.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  national  bank.  I  am  in  favor  of  the 
internal  improvement  system  and  a  high  protective  tariff. 
These  are  my  sentiments  and  political  principles.  If  elected  I 
shall  be  thankful;  if  not,  it  will  be  all  the  same." 

Here  at  the  threshold  of  his  entrance  to  public  life,  occa- 
sion staged  a  little  drama  that  symbolizes  much  that  is  to 
come.  One  hour  meditation;  the  next  action  and  utterance. 
That  was  Lincoln,  boy  and  man.  At  the  outset  of  his  career  he 
avowed  his  principles  and  except  that  events  broadened  and 
deepened  their  application,  they  remained  the  same  to  the 
day  of  his  death. 

Lincoln  was  a  product  of  his  times.  Judge  Logan  who  knew 
him  well,  gives  the  following  testimony  concerning  him  at 
this  period: 

"He  was  very  tall,  gawky,  and  a  rough  looking  fellow  then; 
his  pantaloons  didn't  meet  his  shoes  by  six  inches.  But  after 
he  began  speaking  I  became  very  much  interested  in  him.  He 


Purifying  Fires  51 


made  a  very  sensible  speech.  His  manner  was  very  much  the 
same  as  in  after  life;  that  is,  the  same  peculiar  characteristics 
were  apparent  then,  though  of  course  in  after  years  he 
evinced  more  knowledge  and  experience.  But  he  had  then  the 
same  novelty  and  the  same  peculiarity  in  presenting  ideas. 
Hehad  thesame  individuality  that  he  kept  through  all  his  life." 

Early  in  this  campaign  Lincoln  issued  a  political  circular, 
his  first  written  address  to  the  public.  It  contains  abundant 
evidence  of  close  thinking,  political  sagacity  and  quaint 
utterance.  It  is  a  sober  production  expressing  thoughts  that 
go  straight  to  the  heart.  The  same  lucidity  of  thought  and 
directness  of  style,  which  marks  his  greatest  State  Papers,  is 
discernible  here.  The  address  deals  mainly  with  the  navigabil- 
ity of  the  Sangamon  River,  a  subject  dear  to  the  hearts  of  his 
constituents,  and  just  then  materially  emphasized  by  the 
recent  arrival  of  the  steamboat  Talisman. 

At  this  period  he  proclaimed  the  doctrine  that  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  should  reflect  the  views  of  his  con- 
stituency. He  advocated  legislation  against  usury.  In  con- 
clusion, he  maintained  that  he  might  be  wrong  with  regard  to 
any  or  all  the  subjects  he  discussed,  declaring  that  it  was 
better  only  sometimes  to  be  right  than  to  be  wrong  altogether, 
and  said  he  was  ready  to  renounce  his  opinions  as  soon  as  he 
discovered  they  were  erroneous. 

"Every  man,"  he  observed,  "is  said  to  have  his  peculiar 
ambition.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not,  I  can  say  for  one  that  I 
have  no  other  so  great  as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed  by  my 
fellow  men,  by  rendering  myself  worthy  of  their  esteem." 

His  entire  philosophy  of  life,  here  and  hereafter,  might 
have  been  expressed  in  a  single  line  of  che  homely  poem, 
"Jim  Bludsoe"  by  John  Hay:  "He  never  lied  and  he  never 
flunked,  I  rekon  he  never  know'd  how." 


52  Abraham  Lincoln 

His  appeals  were  never  addressed  to  reason  alone  but 
always  to  the  whole  man :  reason,  sympathy,  love.  He  said  at 
this  time,  "Should  the  people  in  their  wisdom  see  fit  to  keep 
me  in  the  background,  I  have  been  too  familiar  with  dis- 
appointment to  be  very  much  chagrined." 

Already  the  shadow  of  impending  tragedy  seems  to  have 
fallen  upon  his  sensitive  soul.  Already  he  was  taking  up  the 
burden  of  the  fardel-bearing  who  "grunt  and  sweat  under 
life's  weary  load."  Already  something  of  the  Isaiah  in  his 
nature  had  caused  him,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  to  be 
christened  "Old  Abe." 

The  results  of  the  election  added  another  to  the  recent 
defeats  that  had  followed  one  another  in  quick  succession. 
But  those  who  knew  him  best  gave  him  unalloyed  support. 
Out  of  a  total  of  300  votes  cast  in  the  Precinct  of  New  Salem, 
where  he  was  an  intimate  figure,  Lincoln  received  277. 
Politicians  noted  this  popularity  among  his  fellows,  and  it  no 
doubt  proved  of  value  to  Lincoln  in  future  political  specula- 
tions, but  just  then  it  was  a  blow  upon  the  heart.  How  much 
he  felt  it  was  shown,  when  many  years  after  the  public  had 
forgotten  it,  he  gave  details  of  the  election  and  said  with 
ardent  pride  that  it  was  the  only  time  he  had  "ever  been 
beaten  on  a  direct  vote  of  the  people." 

Lincoln's  next  step  into  the  field  of  labor  and  accumulating 
knowledge,  was  as  a  surveyor.  John  Calhoun,  a  stalwart 
Democrat,  selected  the  young  Whig  as  his  assistant,  and 
securing  books,  Lincoln  retired  to  study.  Six  weeks  applica- 
tion gave  him  such  mastery  of  the  science  that  he  carried  on 
the  work  with  surprising  success  and  exactitude.  He  was  also 
made  Postmaster  at  New  Salem,  a  position  that  gave  him 
opportunities  of  reading  the  papers  that  came  to  subscribers 
of  the  district.  He  is  said  to  have  carried  the  Postofrice 


Purifying  Fires  53 


around  in  his  hat.  At  least  he  made  it  a  point  of  being  letter 
carrier  to  those  who  were  on  his  surveying  routes,  and  so  he 
became  the  author  as  well  as  the  active  agent  in  perhaps  the 
first  rural  mail  route  established  in  this  government.  With  all 
this  activity,  Lincoln's  apparent  leisurely  method  of  doing 
things  increased  the  impression  that  he  was  a  lazy  man. 

Squire  Goodby,  a  local  celebrity,  recounts  the  following 
incident: 

"The  first  time  I  saw  Abe  with  a  law  book  in  his  hand  he 
was  sitting  astride  Jake  Dale's  woodpile  in  New  Salem. 

"Says  I,  'Abe,  what  are  you  studying?' 

"'Law/  says  Abe. 

"'Great  God  Almighty!'  I  cried,  and  left  him  there." 

For  three  or  four  years  Lincoln  continued  his  New  Salem 
activities,  all  the  time  reading  law.  He  wrote  deeds  and  con- 
tracts and  other  legal  papers  at  the  call  of  any  citizen,  and 
often  appeared  before  the  local  Justice  of  the  Peace.  All  this 
service  was  free.  He  was  as  indefatigable  in  gaining  experi- 
ence as  he  was  in  showing  his  appreciation  of  the  genuine 
friendship  and  support  accorded  him.  Even  when  he  moved 
to  Springfield,  his  New  Salem  friends  found  his  counsel  ever 
at  their  disposal.  His  door  was  open  to  poverty  and  riches. 
His  study  of  the  law  widened  his  sympathies  and  his  useful- 
ness. He  was  building  for  the  future,  slowly,  solidly,  and 
better  than  he  knew. 

During  these  years  of  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  under  cir- 
cumstances of  the  most  discouraging  kind,  Lincoln  had 
accepted  every  offer  made  him  for  work  that  would  keep  him 
in  food  and  clothes.  He  had  clerked  in  the  New  Salem  stores, 
been  for  a  time  a  partner  in  one  of  them,  and  when  the 
business  failed,  because  of  the  dissolute  habits  of  his  partner, 
refused  to  take  advantage  of  bankruptcy  proceedings  and 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 


gave  his  note  for  the  future  payment  of  all  their  obligations. 
Under  a  load  of  poverty  and  debt,  bound  by  native  instincts 
to  integrity  and  honor,  ambitious  for  preferment,  but  still 
unknown  outside  of  the  small  neighborhood  of  New  Salem, 
it  may  well  be  conceived  that  the  future  looked  to  him  a 
rough  and  rugged  road. 

Lincoln  faced  his  difficulties  with  uncomplaining  fortitude. 
He  proclaimed  himself  a  son  of  the  soil.  He  shared  whatever 
learning,  either  of  literature  or  of  law  that  he  had  acquired, 
with  the  humblest  of  his  acquaintances.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  social  souls  that  God  ever  made,  seeking  always  an 
outlet  for  his  emotions  in  the  company  of  others. 

Ann  Rutledge  was  easily  the  most  attractive  girl  in  New 
Salem.  Her  father,  James  Rutledge,  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  town.  He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  warm-hearted, 
social,  generous  and  hospitable.  Besides  himself,  his  family 
consisted  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom  were  born  in  Ken- 
tucky. Ann  was  the  third  child,  a  girl  of  winning  personality 
and  with  some  pretentions  to  education.  Quick  of  apprehen- 
sion, industrious,  an  excellent  housekeeper,  with  a  quick  wit 
and  great  gayety  of  spirit,  she  shone  with  lonely  brightness 
in  her  crude  surroundings. 

It  is  not  known  just  when  Lincoln's  natural  liking  for  so 
responsive  a  companion  grew  into  love.  She  had  many  suitors 
for  her  hand.  But  the  humorous,  studious,  toiling,  homely 
young  hero  of  the  town  could  but  have  held  a  warm  place  in 
her  affections.  The  only  rival  Lincoln  had  to  fear  was  John 
McNeil,  a  rather  dashing  young  adventurer  from  the  East. 
Sometimes  she  seemed  to  favor  one  and  sometimes  the  other 
of  her  special  admirers.  Lincoln's  wooing  must  have  been  of  a 
homely  fashion.  He  was  well  aware  of  his  awkward  body  and 
homely  features.  But  once  his  heart  was  set  on  an  idea  he 


Purifying  Fires  55 


never  despaired  of  finally  making  it  his  own.  And  so  he 
played  the  cavalier  in  the  primitive  way  upon  every  favor- 
able occasion. 

For  a  long  time  it  seemed  that  Lincoln  was  the  favored 
suitor.  Perhaps  had  he  pressed  his  suit  at  the  proper  time  his- 
tory might  have  been  greatly  changed;  but  having  no  means 
to  support  a  wife,  it  is  quite  certain  that  Lincoln  was  not  the 
man  to  hasten  a  marriage  that  might  cause  distress  and 
privation  to  the  woman  of  his  choice. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  more  persistent  wooer  won  the 
pledge  of  Ann  Rutledge  to  become  his  wife.  When  the  village 
gossips  made  it  known  that  Ann  Rutledge  was  going  to 
marry  McNeil,  Lincoln's  mournful  countenance  gave  little 
evidence  of  the  bolt  that  had  pierced  his  heart.  He  only  re- 
tired farther  into  his  books,  or  sought,  with  bolder  recitals  to 
his  comrades,  to  dispel  the  gloom  that  was  settling  over  his 
soul. 

McNeil  announced  his  intention  of  going  East  to  look  after 
his  parents  and  to  bring  them  back  to  the  settlement.  He  con- 
fessed to  Ann  that  he  had  been  living  at  New  Salem  under  an 
assumed  name,  in  order  to  be  free  from  his  relatives  until  he 
had  made  enough  money  to  take  care  of  them.  He  left  New 
Salem  for  New  York  State  going  overland  with  horse  and 
buggy.  And  that  was  the  last  New  Salem  heard  of  him  for 
many  months.  The  plainspoken  villagers  were  not  long  in 
declaring  that  he  had  played  the  roving  gallant  with  Ann  and 
deserted  her  outright.  But  she  would  not  believe  them  and 
remained  faithful  to  the  absent  lover. 

When  Lincoln  knew  she  was  much  alone  and  sorrowing,  he 
sought  her  side  and  offered  his  consolations.  He  told  her  of 
his  great  love  for  her  and  asked  her  to  be  his  wife.  But  she 
held  firm  to  her  determination  to  await  word  from  McNeil.  At 


56  Abraham  Lincoln 

last  her  patience  was  rewarded.  A  letter  came  in  which 
McNeil  told  of  sickness,  of  rinding  his  father  ill,  and  of 
business  that  held  him  at  the  old  home.  Letters  passed 
between  them,  hers  warm  with  affection  and  trust,  his  grow- 
ing ever  more  prosaic  and  cold.  At  last  she  felt  herself  de- 
serted and  listened  once  more  to  Lincoln's  pleadings.  As  the 
days  went  by  her  spirits  returned.  Her  cheeks  once  more  took 
on  their  roseate  hue,  her  eyes  their  old  time  brightness.  But 
there  was  a  forced  gayety  in  her  demeanor  which  told  of  a 
rooted  sorrow,  a  secret  grief  which  no  assumed  joyousness 
could  disguise.  Then  she  fell  ill.  For  weeks  she  lingered,  con- 
sumed by  fever.  Lincoln  was  not  allowed  to  see  her,  although 
she  often  called  his  name.  At  last  one  day,  when  she  had  been 
unusually  insistent  to  see  him,  he  was  admitted.  The  door 
was  closed  and  he  remained  for  nearly  an  hour. 

When  he  came  out  there  was  a  deeper  grief  in  his  deepset 
eyes,  and  his  shoulders  seemed  to  bear  an  invisible  burden. 
What  passed  between  them  during  that  momentous  hour 
never  will  be  known.  What  confidences,  what  longings,  what 
bursts  of  passion,  what  confessions,  only  He  to  Whom  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts  are  known  holds  that  tragic  secret.  A  few 
days  afterward  Ann  Rutledge  passed  away. 

She  was  buried  in  Concord  Graveyard,  some  distance  from 
New  Salem,  and  Lincoln  was  left  with  a  breaking  heart  to 
mourn  for  her  who  had  inspired  in  him  that  great  passion  for 
which  men  have  thrown  away  kingdoms  and  women  their 
very  hope  of  immortality. 

With  Ann  Rutledge  seemed  to  go  out  all  the  life  and  light 
of  the  world  for  Lincoln.  After  his  last  interview  with  her  he 
changed  so  rapidly  that  his  friends  feared  for  his  reason.  One 
of  Mrs.  Rutledge's  brothers  said  afterward  that  the  effect 
upon  Lincoln's  mind  was  terrible.  "He  became  plunged  in 


Purifying  Fires  57 


despair.  He  had  fits  of  mental  depression,  wandered  up  and 
down  the  river  and  into  the  woods  communing  with  himself,  a 
gloomy  and  distracted  soul.  To  one  friend  he  complained  that 
the  thought  that  the  "snows  and  rains  fall  upon  her  grave" 
filled  him  with  indescribable  grief. 

His  condition  finally  became  so  alarming  that  his  friends 
consulted  together  and  sent  him  to  the  house  of  a  kind 
friend,  Bowlin  Green,  who  lived  in  a  secluded  spot  behind  the 
hills.  Here,  says  Herndon,  he  remained  for  weeks  under  the 
watchful  eye  of  his  noble  friend  who  gradually  brought  him 
back  to  reason,  at  least  to  a  realization  of  his  true  condition. 
In  the  years  that  followed,  Lincoln  never  forgot  the  kindness 
of  Green  through  those  weeks  of  suffering  and  peril. 

In  1842,  when  the  latter  died,  and  Lincoln  was  selected  by 
the  Masonic  Lodge  to  deliver  the  funeral  oration,  he  broke 
down  in  the  midst  of  his  address,  his  voice  choked  with  deep 
emotion,  he  stood  for  some  moments  while  his  lips  quivered 
in  the  effort  to  form  the  words  of  fervent  praise  he  sought  to 
utter,  and  the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks.  Every  heart  was 
hushed  at  the  spectacle.  After  repeated  efforts  he  found  it 
impossible  to  speak  and  strode  away. 

In  the  field  of  ambition  he  had  thrice  been  chastened.  In  a 
fateful  moment  he  had  met  an  antagonist  who  overcame  him 
in  feats  of  physical  strength  and  skill.  Through  the  wild  out- 
lawry of  his  volunteer  followers,  he  had  been  disgraced  in  the 
eyes  of  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States,  and  on  his  first 
appeal  for  the  suffrage  of  his  fellowmen,  he  had  been  def- 
initely beaten  at  the  polls.  The  deeper  currents  of  his  life's 
emotions  had  thrice  been  stirred  to  their  depths  by  the  death 
of  women.  His  boyhood  eyes  had  seen  his  gentle  mother  laid 
in  her  lonely  woodland  grave.  His  companion  sister  had  gone 
the  same  dark  way.  And  now  death  had  laid  his  cold  and 


58  Abraham  Lincoln 

stilling  fingers  upon  her  whose  worth  and  beauty  had  brought 
him  the  supreme  passion,  only  to  be  uprooted,  leaving  his 
heart  a  barren  waste  of  desolation  and  despair. 

God  indeed  moves  in  a  mysterious  way.  In  the  purifying 
fires  of  shattered  hopes  and  woeful  separations  all  the  grosser 
elements  of  his  nature  were  burned  and  purged  away,  and 
Lincoln  emerged  from  the  ordeal  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
sufferings  and  woes  of  mankind.  Every  man  who  has  accom- 
plished any  great  achievement,  has  first  gone  down  into  the 
Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.  Sorrow,  bitterness,  defeat, 
and  disaster  are  the  steps  by  which  we  climb  up  to  the  throne 
of  the  Great  God. 

How  blessed  are  the  troubles  of  mankind,  how  upbuilding 
in  individual  character  are  the  defeats  we  meet  on  Life's  high- 
way! Welcome  trouble,  welcome  defeat,  and  disaster  if  they 
bring  to  us  in  fuller  measure  the  understanding  of  the  fact 
that  the  joy  of  life  is  in  giving  and  the  enthusiasm  of  life  is  in 
serving. 

Then,  welcome  each  rebuff 

That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough, 

Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand,  but  go! 
Be  our  joys  three-parts  pain! 

Strive,  and  hold  cheap  the  strain; 

I  earn,  nor  account  the  pang;  dare,  never  grudge  the 
throe! 


Chapter  VII 

CONQUERING   HIMSELF 


THE  QUALITIES  of  sympathy,  simplicity,  directness 
of  statement  and  a  sort  of  melancholy  good  humor 
which  made  him  a  story  teller  of  the  first  order,  made 
Lincoln  the  hero  of  New  Salem;  and  his  success  as  a  sur- 
veyor, and  evident  love  and  appreciation  of  the  law,  carried 
his  fame  to  other  neighborhoods. 

The  Whigs  gave  him  support  as  one  of  their  candidates  for 
the  Legislature  of  1 834,  and  he  was  elected.  During  the  ses- 
sion he  was  content  to  occupy  a  modest  place,  absorbing,  as 
was  his  wont,  knowledge  of  law  making  and  legislative  pro- 
cedure. He  took  the  measure  of  his  associates  and  found 
himself  not  their  inferior  in  general  knowledge  and  the  prac- 
tice of  it.  After  two  scant  years  of  public  life  he  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  leaders  of  his  Party.  No  longer  waiting 
on  the  advice  of  friends  he  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
renomination.  He  initiated  his  campaign  with  the  following 
political  pronouncement: 

"To  the  Editor  of  the  Journal:  In  your  paper  of  last  Satur- 
day I  see  a  communication  over  the  signature  of  'Many 
Voters/  in  which  the  candidates  who  are  announced  in  The 
Journal  are  called  upon  to  'show  their  hands/  Agreed.  Here's 
mine. 

"I  go  for  all  sharing  privileges  of  the  Government  who 


60  Abraham  Lincoln 

assist  in  bearing  its  burdens.  Consequently  I  go  for  admitting 
all  Whites  to  the  right  of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or  bear 
arms,  by  no  means  excluding  women. 

"If  elected,  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of  Sangamon 
my  constituents,  as  well  those  that  oppose  as  those  that 
support  me. 

"While  acting  as  their  Representative,  I  shall  be  governed 
by  their  will  on  all  subjects  upon  which  I  have  the  means  of 
knowing  what  their  will  is;  and  upon  all  others  I  shall  do 
what  my  judgment  teaches  me  best  to  advance  their  inter- 
ests. Whether  elected  or  not,  I  go  for  distributing  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sales  of  public  lands  to  the  several  states,  to 
enable  our  state,  in  common  with  others,  to  dig  canals  and 
construct  railroads  without  borrowing  money  and  paying 
interest  on  it. 

"If  alive  on  the  first  Monday  in  November,  I  shall  vote 
for  Hugh  L.  White  for  President. 

"  Respectfully, 

A.  Lincoln." 

The  campaign  was  hot  and  strenuous.  The  prairies  saw  de- 
bates as  vigorous  and  important,  if  not  as  dignified,  as  those 
of  the  Senate.  Early  in  the  campaign  Lincoln  spoke  at  Spring- 
field. Among  his  auditors  was  a  Mr.  Forquer,  who  had  the 
finest  house  in  Springfield,  lately  protected  by  the  only 
lightning  rod  in  that  locality.  Formerly  a  Whig,  his  apostacy 
was  awarded  with  a  lucrative  office.  He  felt  Lincoln's  strong 
presentation  of  the  principles  of  the  Whig  Party.  The  recent 
recruit  to  the  Democratic  organization  replied  to  Lincoln  in 
a  speech  of  some  argument,  but  filled  with  scorn  and  satire. 
Lincoln  responded,  in  a  manner  related  by  Speed  as  char- 
acterized by  so  great  dignity  and  force  that  he  would  never 
forget  the  conclusion  of  that  speech. 


Conquering  Himself  61 

"Mr.  Forquer  commenced  his  speech,"  said  Lincoln,  "by- 
announcing  that  the  young  man  would  be  taken  down.  It  is 
for  you,  fellow  citizens,  not  for  me,  to  say  whether  I  am  up 
or  down.  The  gentleman  has  seen  fit  to  allude  to  my  being  a 
young  man;  but  he  forgets  that  I  am  older  in  years  than  I  am 
in  the  tricks  and  trades  of  Politicians.  I  desire  to  live,  and  I 
desire  place  and  distinction,  but  I  would  rather  die  now  than, 
like  the  gentleman,  live  to  see  the  day  that  I  would  change 
my  politics  for  an  office  worth  $3,000  a  year,  and  then  feel 
compelled  to  erect  a  lightning  rod  to  protect  a  guilty  con- 
science from  an  offended  God." 

Lincoln  did  not  fling  away  ambition  but  ennobled  it.  With 
patient  footsteps  he  unrestingly  followed  the  vision  of  higher 
place  along  the  road  of  helpful  service  to  his  fellowmen.  Years 
passed,  times  changed.  Events  of  which  he  could  not  have 
dreamed  crowded  his  stage  with  giant  actors  moved  by  the 
clashing  of  tremendous  forces  of  which  he  was  the  central 
figure.  His  hands  held  the  power  of  the  Nation,  but  through 
it  all  his  conduct  was  governed  by  these  same  simple  rules 
he  gave  at  the  outset  of  his  career.  His  words  multiplied,  his 
deeds  grew  many  and  of  first  importance,  but  in  the  core  of 
each  were  the  seeds  of  human  sympathy  and  justice. 

Lincoln  was  now  launched  upon  a  public  career.  He  loved 
popularity  and  knew  how  to  win  it.  No  public  man  of  any 
period  has  shown  a  more  comprehensive  knowledge  of  human 
nature  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  knew  the  thoughts  of  the 
people  of  his  state  better  than  they  knew  them.  He  abhorred 
sham  and  pretension  and  loved  to  submit  it  to  the  revealing 
light  of  humorous  satire.  He  was  easily  re-elected  to  the 
Legislature  at  this  time  and  remained  in  the  House  as  long 
as  he  felt  it  to  be  to  his  advantage,  and  so  long  as  he  felt  that 
his  duty  to  the  public  demanded  it. 


62  Abraham  Lincoln 

While  he  was  in  the  Legislature  he  became  an  aggressive 
champion  of  the  Public  Improvement  Policy,  which  con- 
templated great  expenditures  of  state  funds  for  waterways 
and  railroads.  Although  the  day  for  those  improvements  had 
not  arrived  and  the  bonds  issued  by  the  state  for  their  con- 
struction became  a  menace  to  the  conscience  of  the  people 
who  talked  seriously  of  repudiation,  the  improvements  which 
Lincoln  saw  in  his  mind's  eye  have  all  come  about  and  are 
greatly  extended  today,  both  by  private  and  public  means. 
Even  the  canal  which  the  Lincoln  group  of  legislators  at 
Springfield  conceived  and  advocated  to  connect  the  Illinois 
River  with  Lake  Michigan,  is  now  one  of  the  proud  boasts  of 
modern  engineering  and  operates  just  as  Lincoln  said  it 
would.  Financial  panics  in  1837-38  caused  such  a  deprecia- 
tion in  the  Illinois  State  Bonds  that  the  folly  of  the  previous 
Legislature  was  made  a  campaign  issue.  But  the  people  re- 
turned the  men  who  had  advocated  the  public  improvements. 

The  burning  of  a  negro  in  St.  Louis  and  the  murder  of 
Lovejoy  at  Alton  for  his  abolition  utterances  forced  all  others 
questions  into  abeyance,  and  made  it  necessary  for  every 
man  before  the  public  in  Illinois  to  take  sides  in  the  contro- 
versy. 

The  State  Capitol  had  been  moved  to  Springfield  from 
Vandalia  during  the  previous  session  of  the  Legislature,  prin- 
cipally through  the  efforts  of  Lincoln  and  his  followers, 
known  as  the  "Long  Nine"  from  Sangamon,  each  of  the 
rugged  statesmen  measuring  above  six  feet  and  weighing 
more  than  200  pounds.  Lincoln,  too,  had  left  his  New  Salem 
home  for  residence  at  the  Capitol.  There  domiciled  with  his 
friend  Speed  in  a  room  over  his  store,  the  law  firm  of  Stuart 
and  Lincoln  having  been  formed,  Lincoln  soon  became  as 
conspicuous  a  figure  in  this  aristocratic  center,  as  he  had  been 


Conquering  Himself  63 

in  New  Salem,  where  social  life  was  in  a  way  measured  by 
the  opinions  of  the  Clary  Grove  boys.  Here  were  wealthy 
families  whose  heads  boasted  the  best  blood  of  Kentucky  and 
Virginia.  Lincoln  gives  a  characteristic  picture  of  the  spirit 
of  the  city  of  that  day  in  a  private  letter,  in  which  he  ex- 
presses a  doubt  of  anyone  who  could  not  afford  to  live  in 
them  being  satisfied  in  the  surroundings. 

"I  am  afraid  you  would  not  be  satisfied,"  he  writes. 
"There  is  a  great  deal  of  flourishing  about  in  carriages  here, 
which  it  would  be  your  doom  to  see  without  sharing  in  it." 

No  doubt  this  expresses  his  own  emotions,  born  of  com- 
paring his  humble  state  with  that  of  the  society  of  which  his 
official  position  compelled  him  to  be  a  part.  Like  Burns  and 
Shakespeare,  he  had  no  respect  for  the  outward  show  of 
honor  or  distinction,  yet  he  felt  with  extreme  keenness  the 
insolence  of  office  and  the  spurns  that  patient  merit  of  the 
unworthy  takes. 

His  complex  nature  required  the  spur  of  some  mighty  ques- 
tion of  human  rights  to  be  aroused  to  definite  action,  but 
when  face  to  face  with  such  a  problem  his  decision  was  deter- 
mined and  uncompromising.  He  might  lend  a  ready  hand  at 
political  "log-rolling"  in  an  affair  that  promised  results  in 
conformity  to  the  demands  of  his  constituents,  and  wherein 
the  result  could  have  no  bearing  on  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  right  and  justice.  He  might  adopt,  or  even  invent,  a 
political  situation  which  would  draw  his  opponents  to  his 
support  or  confound  them  quite;  but  let  the  matter  pass  over 
from  political  expediency  to  a  point  where  the  decision  re- 
quired an  application  of  justice  and  the  welfare  of  humanity, 
either  singly  or  in  groups,  and  he  would  cut  away  all  extran- 
eous matter,  wherever  the  chips  might  fall,  to  present  the 
elemental  truth  and  to  uphold  it  at  all  hazards. 


64  Abraham  Lincoln 

It  is  hard  to  realize  at  this  distant  day  and  under  the 
present  state  of  Government  of  the  United  States,  with  its 
generally  acknowledged  conviction  that  negro  slavery  was  a 
colossal  mistake  from  every  point  of  view,  the  passions 
aroused  in  the  two  decades  preceding  the  Civil  War,  from  the 
discussion  of  that  question.  The  year  1837  is  the  culmination 
of  the  first  period  of  Abolitionism  in  Illinois.  The  fiery  pro- 
tests of  the  few  advanced  liberators  of  New  England  had 
aroused  equal  passions  among  the  advocates  of  slavery  all 
along  the  border  line.  Illinois  was  the  home  of  the  people  from 
both  sections  of  the  country.  Emigrants  from  the  Northern 
Atlantic  States  and  emigrants  from  Kentucky,  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas  had  banked  up  at  the  confluence  of  the  several 
waterways  which  emptied  into  the  Mississippi.  One  portion 
of  the  population  of  this  new  state,  and  by  far  the  larger,  did 
not  distinguish  between  the  men  who  stole  horses  and  the 
men  who  helped  runaway  Negroes  to  safety.  Anti-slavery 
men  were  regarded  as  robbers,  disturbers  of  the  peace,  en- 
couragers  of  defiance  to  the  Constitution.  The  few  who  stood 
opposed  to  this  opinion  were  as  passionately  radical  in  their 
declarations  concerning  the  slave  owners.  There  was  a  large 
number  of  Conservatists  who  took  no  part  in  these  contro- 
versies. They  had  no  sympathy  with  slavery  for  the  North, 
but  were  content  to  leave  it  as  it  was  in  the  states  where 
negro  labor  was  thought  to  be  the  only  solution  to  a  peculiar 
state  of  society  which  had  grown  up  under  it. 

It  was  not  the  question  of  man's  freedom  to  work  or  not  to 
work,  that  formed  the  initial  declaration  of  principles  which 
grew  at  last  into  the  Emancipation,  but  the  question  of  man's 
right  to  utter  his  opinions  on  any  subject  without  molesta- 
tion. The  destruction  of  the  Lovejoy  printing  plant  and  the 
murder  of  Lovejoy  gave  vitality  to  the  protest  against  the 


Conquering  Himself  65 

restrictions  of  free  speech.  This  was  a  subject  of  universal 
appeal.  It  found  ready  response  in  every  city  and  hamlet  of 
the  land.  It  madeLovejoy's  murder  an  attempt  upon  a  liberty 
dearest  to  the  heart  of  all  men.  It  attacked  then,  as  it  attacks 
today,  the  very  seat  and  soul  of  representative  government. 
It  proposed  then,  as  it  proposes  today,  to  cut  out  the  tongue 
of  Truth  and  to  make  dumb  the  Goddess  of  Justice. 

Quick  to  see  this  weak  point  in  the  enemy's  attack,  the 
anti-slave  forces  rallied  to  the  defence  of  free  speech.  In  the 
face  of  an  institution  demanding  mob  power  and  the  sacrifice 
of  priceless  principles,  the  Abolitionists  performed  a  whole- 
some public  service  in  contending  that  then  more  than  ever, 
liberty  of  discussion  should  be  protected,  maintained  and 
hallowed. 

In  the  midst  of  this  trembling  of  elemental  forces  presag- 
ing the  mighty  upheaval  which  was  to  follow,  Lincoln  sud- 
denly emerges  from  a  politician  with  local  aims,  to  a  states- 
man with  the  Union  for  a  stage,  and  the  universal  rights  of 
man  for  his  theme.  Those  long  hours  of  meditation,  those 
continued  humiliations,  those  years  of  self  abnegation,  those 
shocks  of  personal  grief,  those  heart  pangs  for  the  griefs  of 
others,  all  blossomed  and  bore  fruit  under  the  tropic  heat 
of  a  whole  Nation  aroused  to  sectional  hatred.  Not  that  he 
was  swept  off  his  feet  by  the  surge  of  that  tumultuous  sea  of 
uncontrolled  passion  that  surged  over  the  country.  He  had 
learned  in  the  school  of  experience  to  be  master  of  himself. 
He  had  come  a  long  journey  from  that  Kentucky  cabin 
where  he  was  born  to  this  Capitol  of  sturdy  and  ambitious 
Illinois.  Not  a  step  of  that  arduous  way  but  had  been  hewn 
through  the  forest  of  difficulty.  Achieving  intellectual 
power,  he  had  learned  to  conserve  it.  Fearful  of  his  own 
wrath  when  aroused,  he  had  put  a  net  of  steel  about  his 


66  Abraham  Lincoln 

emotions.  Seeking  guidance  for  his  own  complex  nature, 
he  had  found  the  vision  that  made  the  government  of  other 
men  an  action  of  understanding. 

Now  when  occasion  called,  he  was  ready.  The  solemnity  of 
the  hour  summoned  heroic  utterance.  But  it  must  be  the 
utterance  of  reason  inspired  by  experience,  not  by  passion. 
Lincoln  knew  that  every  attempt  upon  the  part  of  mankind 
to  suppress  ideals  by  laws  or  edicts  of  man,  has  been  and 
must  be  a  failure.  He  knew  that  the  hemlock,  the  tower,  the 
rack,  the  fagot  and  the  cross  had  been  proved  ineffectual  to 
still  the  voice  of  Truth.  He  knew  that  the  only  method  which 
can  be  successfully  used  to  combat  any  propaganda  is  the 
substitution  of  a  new  and  better  ideal.  He  knew  that  the 
laws  which  the  Creator  had  laid  upon  the  breast  of  Nature 
were  as  enduring  as  Nature  herself;  that  the  judgments  of 
the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.  He  knew  that  if 
the  Lovejoy  murder  was  to  be  avenged,  it  must  be  through 
the  establishment  of  the  principle  of  free  government,  as 
much  for  the  freedom  of  the  mind  as  for  the  body;  as  much 
for  the  owner  of  the  slave  as  for  the  slave. 

It  was  no  idle  vaunt  that  had  stirred  him  to  the  declaration 
that  if  ever  he  had  a  chance  to  strike  at  slavery  he  would  hit 
it  hard.  Occasion  offered.  The  time  had  come.  The  Legisla- 
ture of  which  he  was  a  member,  instead  of  branding  the 
murder  of  Lovejoy  in  1837,  ignored  the  blow  thereby  struck 
at  mankind — the  right  of  White  and  Black  to  utter  their 
convictions — and  hastened  to  pass  resolutions  of  sympathy 
with  slavery.  It  was  Lincoln's  opportunity  and  he  embraced 
it  bravely.  He  was  no  longer  an  unknown  laborer  of  an  ob- 
scure settlement.  He  was  widely  known  and  rapidly  becom- 
ing distinguished  for  his  services  as  a  political  leader.  And 
with  that  rare  insight  into  the  heart  of  an  event,  which  never 


Conquering  Himself  67 

afterward  failed  him  in  any  great  emergency,  he  spoke  the 
words  that  put  human  slavery  to  the  test,  not  only  of  morals 
but  of  expediency. 

He  wrote  and  introduced  a  resolution  which  proclaimed 
his  protest  against  the  House  Resolutions.  Only  one  other 
man  of  that  body  signed  the  protest,  Dan  Stone,  of  Sanga- 
mon, and  his  daring  in  following  Lincoln  in  his  dissent  will 
save  him  from  the  oblivion  that  has  already  enshrouded  those 
who  voted  for  the  original  resolution.  The  dissenting  resolu- 
tion, spread  upon  the  Records  of  the  House,  was  the  still 
small  voice  that  finally  grew,  until  it  assailed  the  ears  of  an 
aroused  Nation: 

"They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that  the  promulgation  of 
abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  to  abate 
the  evil. 

"They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has 
the  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be 
exercised  unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the  District. 

"The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  con- 
tained in  the  said  resolutions  is  their  reason  for  entering  this 
protest. 

"Dan  Stone 
"A.  Lincoln 
* 'Representatives  of  the  County  of  Sangamon." 

The  wisdom  of  Lincoln  was  never  better  exemplified  than 
in  these  resolutions.  He  laid  down  in  the  first  clause  the  axiom 
dear  to  his  heart  that  slavery  was  wrong;  but  with  it  he 
coupled  truth  no  less  vital  to  the  institutions  of  government, 
that  it  was  bad  policy.  Admirable  reasoning,  superb  diplo- 
macy! Here  was  "log-rolling"  carried  to  the  fourth  dimen- 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

sion.  In  two  words  he  cleared  the  question  of  slavery  of  all 
sentiment  and  held  it  up  to  the  gaze  of  all  practical  men  as  a 
menace  to  their  legitimate  ambitions.  He  did  not  ask  them 
to  sympathize  with  the  Negro.  He  asked  them  to  consider 
justice  and  their  own  prosperity.  And  in  the  third  clause  he 
laid  down  the  proposition  that  the  Congress  under  the  Con- 
stitution had  the  right  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  and  therefore  in  all  the  Territories  which  were 
likewise  under  its  rule.  It  was  on  this  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  that  he  afterwards  defeated  Douglas,  in  their 
great  debates.  It  was  on  this  principle  that  he  finally  issued 
the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  abolishing  slavery. 

Such  was  the  mind  of  Lincoln  when  he  was  twenty-eight; 
a  Daniel  come  to  judgment.  Well  were  it  for  the  Nation  today 
could  we  see  with  his  eyes,  hear  with  his  ears  and  enter  into 
his  understanding. 

It  is  typical  of  Lincoln  that  he  kept  close  to  the  people, 
during  that  troubled  period  of  their  transformation  from  a 
loosely  connected  settlement  of  pioneers  breaking  up  a  virgin 
soil  and  forming  the  foundations  of  a  State.  The  visions  of  an 
Illinois  netted  with  railroads  and  intersected  by  waterways, 
by  which  the  rapidly  increasing  products  should  find  ready 
transportation  to  the  markets  of  the  world,  premature  as 
they  were,  held  first  place  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
citizenry  of  that  day,  and  they  have  found  their  culmination 
in  the  achievements  of  the  present  hour.  He  espoused  them 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and  the  measureless  hopes  of 
manhood.  If  sober  meditations  brought  doubt  as  to  the  wis- 
dom of  drawing  lavishly  on  the  future  for  financial  means 
with  which  to  inaugurate  projects  colossal  for  their  day  and 
generation,  his  belief  in  the  vigor  of  the  people  en  masse  and 
his  knowledge  of  the  inexhaustible  riches  of  the  soil,  dispelled 


Conquering  Himself  69 

them.  Besides,  there  was  in  the  very  fibres  of  his  nature  a 
strain  of  determination  which  forced  him  to  keep  his  station 
on  a  present  footing,  no  matter  how  unsubstantial  and  pre- 
carious, until  he  had  thrown  out  another  foundation  to  which 
he  might  advance  with  greater  security. 

But  amid  the  turmoils  of  local  and  state  politics,  while 
standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  his  colleagues  for  party 
measures,  and  daily  gaining  a  more  important  and  definite 
place  in  the  estimation  of  the  people  through  subscribing  to 
their  hopes  and  ambitions,  he  used  his  natural  gifts  of  wit 
and  drollery,  as  well  as  his  growing  powers  of  argument  and 
declamation,  to  secure  for  them  the  things  which  loomed 
largest  in  their  speculations.  It  is  not  difficult  to  appreciate 
the  humor  he  was  in  when,  beset  by  the  numerous  difficulties 
of  making  his  political  necessities  square  with  his  innate 
sense  of  righteousness,  he  declared  that  "honest  statesman- 
ship is  the  employment  of  individual  meanness  to  the  public 
good."  But  "in  a  larger  sense"  he  saw  the  elements  at  white 
heat  moving  underneath  the  as  yet  barely  troubled  surface 
of  the  Nation's  thought,  and  was  already  selecting  his 
weapon  and  choosing  his  ground  for  action  when  the  trumpet 
call  should  come. 

It  was  now  the  period  of  unrest  marked  by  outbreaks  of 
mob  law  which  might  well  have  shocked  the  order-loving 
Lincoln.  It  was  pictured  by  Lovejoy  himself  just  before  his 
murder.  Commenting  on  the  murder  of  the  mulatto,  Mcin- 
tosh, Lovejoy  says: 

"  In  Charleston  it  burns  a  Convent  over  the  head  of  defense- 
less women;  in  Baltimore  it  desecrates  the  Sabbath  and  works 
all  day  in  demolishing  a  private  citizen's  house;  in  Vicksburg 
it  hangs  up  gamblers,  three  or  four  in  a  row;  and  in  St.  Louis 
it  forces  a  man — a  hardened  wretch,  certainly,  and  one  that 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

deserved  to  die — it  forces  him  from  beneath  the  aegis  of  our 
Constitution  and  laws,  hurries  him  to  the  stake  and  burns 
him  alive." 

That  the  reports  of  these  outrages  stirred  Lincoln  to  the 
depths  of  his  being  is  evident  in  the  formal  address  he  deliv- 
ered in  the  Fall  of  1839  before  the  Young  Men's  Lyceum  at 
Springfield,  Illinois.  When  compared  with  that  of  anything 
he  afterward  attempted,  the  style  is  ornate  and  overly  fanci- 
ful, but  stripped  of  its  adornments,  it  reveals  the  same  frame 
work  and  structure  on  which  all  his  conclusions  were  based. 

He  pictured  the  people  in  peaceful  possession  of  the  fairest 
portion  of  the  earth  as  regards  extent  of  territory,  fertility 
of  soil  and  salubrity  of  climate.  They  were  under  a  govern- 
ment of  political  institutions  more  essentially  conducive  to 
the  ends  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  than  any  which  history 
of  former  times  had  told.  Then  sweeping  on  to  the  exhibitions 
of  mob  violence  which  had  culminated  in  the  Lovejoy  mur- 
der, he  denounced  the  malefactions  of  the  mobs,  saying  that 
they  pervaded  the  country  from  New  England  to  Louisiana, 
and  alike  sprang  up  among  the  pleasure-hunting  masters  of 
Southern  slaves  and  the  order-loving  citizens  of  the  land  of 
steady  habits;  that  this  process  went  on  from  gamblers  to 
Negroes,  from  Negroes  to  White  citizens,  and  from  these  to 
strangers,  till  dead  men  were  seen  literally  dangling  from  the 
boughs  of  trees  from  every  roadside.  He  insisted  that  should 
this  mob  spirit  be  allowed  to  rage,  the  strongest  bulwark  of 
any  government  might  effectually  be  broken  down  and  de- 
stroyed through  losing  the  attachment  of  the  people.  He  con- 
tended that  whenever  the  vicious  portion  of  the  population 
should  be  permitted  with  impunity  to  burn  churches,  ravage 
provision  stores,  throw  printing  presses  into  the  river,  shoot 
editors,  and  hang  and  burn  obnoxious  persons,  this  govern- 
ment could  not  last. 


Conquering  Himself  71 

If  this  picture  seems  overdrawn  today,  the  times  gave 
warrant  for  it,  especially  as  it  formed  the  background  for  his 
argument  for  law  and  order  which  he  hastened  to  add  as  an 
antidote: 

"  Let  reverence  for  the  law  be  breathed  by  every  American 
mother  to  the  lisping  babe  that  prattles  on  her  lap;  let  it  be 
taught  in  schools,  in  seminaries  and  in  colleges;  let  it  be 
written  in  primers,  spelling  books  and  almanacs;  let  it  be 
preached  from  the  pulpit,  proclaimed  in  legislative  halls,  and 
enforced  in  the  courts  of  justice.  And,  in  short,  let  it  become 
the  political  religion  of  the  Nation,  and  let  the  old  and  the 
young,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  grave  and  the  gay  of  all 
sexes  and  tongues  and  colors  and  conditions,  sacrifice  unceas- 
ingly upon  its  altars  ****** 

"When  I  so  pressingly  urge  a  strict  observance  of  all  the 
laws,  let  me  not  be  understood  as  saying  there  are  no  bad 
laws,  or  that  grievances  may  not  arise  for  the  redress  of  which 
no  legal  provisions  have  been  made.  I  mean  to  say  no  such 
thing.  But  I  do  mean  to  say  that  although  bad  laws,  if  they 
exist,  should  be  repealed  as  soon  as  possible,  still,  while  they 
continue  in  force,  for  the  sake  of  example  they  should  be 
religiously  observed.  So  also  in  unprovided  cases.  If  such 
arise,  let  proper  legal  provision  be  made  for  them  with  the 
least  possible  delay,  but  till  then,  if  not  too  intolerable,  be 
borne  with." 

Reverence  for  the  law — that  was  an  article  of  religion. 
And  the  best  proof  of  understanding  of  the  question  of  obedi- 
ence to  law  appears  in  the  fact  that  what  he  said  concerning 
it  then,  fits  quite  as  vitally  and  completely  to  the  questions 
of  the  present  hour.  Whethe^  the  controversy  was  over  a 
stray  animal,  the  ownership  to  be  established  before  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  or  over  the  ownership  of  four  million  men  and 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

women  held  in  bondage,  the  principle  involved  appealed  to 
Lincoln  with  equal  importance.  And  on  that  principle  he 
built  with  such  pains  and  care  that  it  stood  finally  the  assault 
of  the  keenest  wits,  the  wisest  logicians,  and  the  greatest 
constitutional  lawyers  of  the  Nation. 

Even  at  this  early  date  Lincoln  had  evidently  set  himself 
to  conquer  a  style  that  should  answer  his  greatest  needs.  He 
adopted  a  Shakespearean  method  of  dissecting  his  own  nature 
that  he  might  find  fitting  terms  for  defining  all  natures.  Who 
can  doubt  that  like  young  Malcolm  he  found  within  himself 
the  elements  with  which  to  build  up  this  illuminating  picture 
of  Genius? 

"Towering  genius,"  he  said,  "disdains  a  beaten  path.  It 
seeks  regions  hitherto  unexplored.  It  sees  no  distinction  in 
adding  story  to  story  upon  monuments  of  fame  erected  to 
the  memory  of  others.  It  denies  that  it  is  glory  enough  to 
serve  under  any  chief.  It  scorns  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of 
any  predecessor,  however  illustrious.  It  thirsts  and  burns  for 
distinction;  and,  if  possible,  it  will  have  it,  whether  at  the 
expense  of  emancipating  slaves  or  enslaving  freemen." 

Who  can  doubt  that  Lincoln  on  the  threshold  of  his  career, 
looking  into  his  own  heart,  saw  there  the  man  he  might  be- 
come were  he  to  give  rein  to  all  the  surging  emotions  of  his 
restive  soul?  Who  shall  doubt  his  horror  at  the  picture?  And 
who  shall  refuse  admiration  and  reverence  to  the  memory  of 
the  man  who  from  such  tremendous  urgings  to  a  selfish  career 
was  able  to  mould  himself  anew  into  one  of  the  greatest  of 
sacrificial  martyrs  the  world  has  known?  Here  we  can  see  him 
in  his  early  manhood,  with  Titan  power  fighting  and  triumph- 
ing over  the  brute  forces  of  his  being,  over  his  ambition,  and 
towering  to  the  greatness  of  righteous  triumph. 

At  this  time,  too,  the  forces  working  at  the  seat  of  govern- 


Conquering  Himself  73 

ment  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Nation  seem  to  have 
been  revealed  to  him: 

"Many  free  countries,"  he  declared,  "have  lost  their  lib- 
erty, and  ours  may  lose  hers;  but  if  it  shall,  let  it  be  my 
proudest  plume,  not  that  I  was  the  last  to  desert,  but  that  I 
never  deserted  her.  I  know  that  the  great  volcano  at  Wash- 
ington, aroused  and  directed  by  the  evil  spirit  that  reigns 
there,  is  belching  forth  the  lava  of  political  corruption  in  a 
current  broad  and  deep,  which  is  sweeping  with  frightful 
velocity  over  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  bid- 
ding fair  to  leave  unscathed  no  green  spot  or  living  thing; 
while  on  its  bosom  are  riding  like  demons  on  the  waves  of 
hell,  the  imps  of  that  evil  spirit,  and  fiendishly  taunting  all 
those  that  dare  resist  its  destroying  course  with  the  helpless- 
ness of  their  effort;  and,  knowing  this,  I  cannot  deny  that  all 
may  be  swept  away.  Broken  by  it,  I,  too,  may  be;  bow  to  it 
I  never  will. 

"The  probability  that  we  may  fall  in  the  struggle  ought 
not  to  deter  us  from  the  support  of  the  cause  we  believe  to 
be  just;  it  shall  not  deter  me." 

This  address  made  a  tremendous  impression  on  his  audi- 
ence. The  ready  response  of  his  auditors  to  the  somewhat 
sophomoric  heroics  of  the  young  patriot's  studied  periods  is 
incontrovertible  proof  that  they  rang  true  to  the  spirit  of  the 
hour.  His  friends  saw  to  it  that  the  speech  was  published  in 
the  Sangamon  Journal. 

Lincoln  here  passed  from  brooding  over  the  needs  of  his 
State  to  brooding  over  the  needs  of  the  Nation.  At  this  mo- 
mentous hour  was  born  to  him  that  high  resolve  to  stand  by 
the  Nation,  separate  and  distinct  from  any  individual  phase 
of  its  general  composition.  Pondering  deeply  upon  these  fea- 
tures of  the  family  life  which  go  to  make  moral  nature  of 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

government,  such  as  universal  suffrage,  temperance,  and 
slavery,  he  said  that  "all  such  questions  must  first  find  lodg- 
ment with  the  most  enlightened  souls  who  stamp  them  with 
their  approval.  In  God's  own  time  they  will  be  organized  into 
law  and  thus  woven  into  the  fabric  of  our  institutions." 

There  is  proof  enough  of  Lincoln's  sympathy  with  suffer- 
ing, and  his  quick  response  to  the  call  of  distress.  He  detested 
liquor  while  sorrowing  for  the  drunkard,  and  his  settled 
hatred  for  the  institution  of  slavery  was  inborn.  It  was  not 
the  injustice  of  slavery  in  its  constitutional  operation  that 
stirred  him  to  protest,  but  the  attempt  to  override  the  Con- 
stitution by  the  extension  of  slavery  into  the  Territories 
against  the  edicts  of  the  Constitution.  And  much  as  he  must 
have  suffered  in  sympathy  with  Lovejoy  and  deplored  his 
murder,  it  was  not  the  crime  of  murder  of  a  man,  so  much  as 
the  crime  against  the  body  of  the  State,  against  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  free  speech,  that  brought  him  into  the 
forum  with  eloquent  protest  and  prophetic  exclamation.  He 
was  a  patriot  first,  holding  the  body  of  the  State  inviolate, 
and  a  humanitarian  afterwards.  And  as  at  this  time  he 
looked  at  the  gashes  in  the  robe  of  Columbia,  following  the 
wild  strokes  of  the  mob,  before  he  turned  to  soothe  the 
wounds  of  the  individuals  or  proclaim  their  right,  so  when 
the  Nation  was  rent  by  an  insurrectionary  war,  he  saw  the 
danger  which  threatened  the  Union  before  all  else,  and  gave 
his  tears,  his  sympathy,  and  his  great  powers  to  succor  the 
unfortunate  and  the  unhappy  only  when  he  had  used  up 
every  power  and  every  expedient  in  binding  up  the  Nation's 
wounds  and  preparing  for  its  future  security. 

Mob  law  shocked  him  out  of  Provincialism  into  National- 
ism. He  saw  the  coming  danger  to  the  State.  The  theme  of 
the  Great  Tragedy  which  had  its  initial  utterance  with  the 


Conquering  Himself  75 

murder  of  Lovejoy  at  Alton  found  its  echo  in  his  soul,  which 
would  never  cease  to  sound  until  it  should  culminate  in  his 
own  martyrdom  in  Washington. 


Chapter  VIII 


IN  MARCH,  1837,  Lincoln  was  licensed  to  practice  law. 
His  preparation  had  been  in  harmony  with  all  his  other 
activities,  looking  toward  superiority  in  any  accom- 
plishment. He  never  studied  in  a  law  office,  he  tells  us  with 
becoming  modesty.  His  library  had  always  been  his  armpit, 
his  study  the  spot  that  brought  him  a  moment's  leisure.  And 
he  had  no  sooner  acquired  a  bit  of  knowledge  then  he  put 
it  to  the  test  of  expression.  Sometimes  it  was  a  single  boon 
companion  who  heard  his  first  phrasing  of  an  idea  he  had  ab- 
sorbed, sometimes  it  was  a  group  of  the  rough  Clary  Grove 
boys,  sometimes  it  was  merely  a  group  of  trees  or  a  less  re- 
sponsive audience  of  stumps  in  a  logged-off  patch  of  the  forest. 
In  New  Salem  he  had  embraced  every  opportunity  to  ap- 
pear before  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  to  argue  the  case  for 
some  walletless  litigant  whose  rights  had  been  threatened  in 
a  minor  matter,  and  it  was  in  this  free  and  untrammeled 
practice  of  the  art  of  pleading  that  he  discovered  the  power 
of  fable  applied  to  morals,  and  which  equipped  him  with 
that  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote  with  which  he  was  ever 
fond  of  illustrating  a  point  of  law  or  revealing  a  principle. 
His  theory  was  sound.  Later  in  life  he  wrote  to  a  student  who 
wished  instructions  as  to  how  to  become  a  lawyer,  emphasiz- 
ing those  virtues  that  needs  must  accompany  success.  His 


Lawyer  and  Legislator  77 

conclusions  are  purely  Lincolnian  and  reveal  the  man  as  the 
soul  of  honesty  and  truth.  "There  is  a  vague  popular  belief 
that  lawyers  are  necessarily  dishonest,"  he  writes.  "I  say 
vague,  because  when  we  consider  to  what  extent  confidence 
and  honors  are  reposed  in  and  conferred  upon  lawyers  by  the 
people,  it  appears  improbable  that  their  impression  of  dis- 
honesty is  very  distinct  or  vivid.  Yet  the  impression  is  com- 
mon, almost  universal.  Let  no  young  man  choosing  the  law 
for  a  calling  for  a  moment  yield  to  the  popular  belief.  Resolve 
to  be  honest  at  all  events;  and  if  in  your  own  judgment  you 
cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer,  resolve  to  be  honest  without 
being  a  lawyer.  Choose  some  other  occupation,  rather  than 
one  in  the  choosing  of  which  you  do,  in  advance,  consent  to 
be  a  knave." 

Lincoln  formed  a  partnership  with  John  T.  Stuart,  a  com- 
rade in  the  Blackhawk  War,  who  had  gained  rather  an  ex- 
tensive practice  and  was  at  the  time  just  recovering  from 
the  effects  of  a  Congressional  race  in  which  he  had  been  the 
loser.  He  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law  in  a  community  of 
pioneers  hot  with  the  passion  of  political  strife  and  fearless 
in  its  expression  of  opinion.  When  arguments  failed,  fists 
were  used  with  brutal  frequency.  During  the  heated  cam- 
paign of  1838,  Douglas  and  Stuart,  candidates  for  Congress, 
Herndon  tells  us,  fought  like  tigers  in  his  father's  grocery 
over  a  floor  that  was  drenched  with  slops,  and  gave  up  the 
struggle  only  when  both  were  exhausted.  Then  as  a  fitting 
curtain  to  the  episode,  Mr.  Stuart  ordered  a  "barrel  of 
whiskey  and  wine." 

In  the  rear  end  of  Speed's  store  over  which  Lincoln  slept, 
aspiring  candidates  for  public  favor  gathered  nightly  about 
a  big  open  fireplace  and  debated  with  vigor  questions  of  the 
hour.  Campaigns  were  made  personal  affairs.   Candidates 


Abraham  Lincoln 


1 


visiting  scattered  homes  of  the  settlement  presented  their 
qualifications  for  office  and  the  principles  of  the  party  they 
represented  to  the  household,  not  neglecting  to  make  show 
of  interest  in  mother  and  children.  Wherever  a  crowd  could 
be  got  together  politicians  appeared  to  challenge  their  op- 
ponents with  vigor,  if  not  with  courtesy  and  logic. 

Small  wonder  that  Lincoln,  whose  love  for  public  speaking 
had  been  fostered  by  practice  upon  every  possible  occasion 
since  childhood,  should  have  jumped  immediately  into  this 
stream  of  debate  and  stirred  up  the  waters  in  no  mean  way. 
If  the  Lincoln  legends  of  those  days  glow  with  too  much 
animal  fire  to  please  the  ears  of  present  day  civilization,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  he  had  been  trained  in  a  rough 
school,  that  his  nature  was  fundamentally  human,  and  that 
his  sympathy  for  men  rather  than  respect  for  refinements 
built  up  on  social  conventions,  prompted  the  ready  use  of 
that  touch  of  nature  which  makes  the  whole  world  kin.  He 
had  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  humor  and  he  used  it  with  a 
free  hand  where  it  would  count  more  in  carrying  his  point 
than  all  the  fine-spun  philosophy  or  glittering  show  of  sand- 
papered rhetoric. 

Lincoln  had  an  overweening  affection  for  life  in  all  its 
phases  and  did  not  believe  anything  to  be  gained  by  viewing 
it  only  on  dress  parade.  Once  when  Carpenter  was  executing 
his  well-known  picture  of  the  Cabinet,  the  subject  of  Shake- 
speare chanced  to  come  under  discussion,  and  Lincoln  re- 
marked that  he  could  see  no  good  reason  for  the  expurgation 
of  certain  passages  in  the  plays  when  they  were  presented, 
feeling  that  to  take  away  any  portion  of  the  expressed  life 
of  the  time  in  which  they  were  written  was  to  give  a  one- 
sided view  of  it  and  to  make  doubtful  of  being  understood 
other  characters  and  arguments  of  the  play.  But  all  his  con- 


Lawyer  and  Legislator  79 

temporaries  join  in  protesting  against  the  reports  that  Lin- 
coln delighted  in  vulgarity  for  its  own  sake.  He  never  told  a 
story  or  used  a  colloquialism  but  he  gave  it  a  point  which 
applied  immediately  and  directly  to  the  subject  under  dis- 
cussion. As  he  loved  men,  so  he  loved  truth,  for  its  own  sake. 

If  he  stripped  falsehood  and  sham  of  their  seductive  color- 
ing by  the  plain  application  of  the  recital  of  a  condensed 
drama  which  observation  and  experience  had  taught  him 
would  prove  most  effective  in  establishing  a  fact  in  place  of 
an  erroneous  theory,  it  was  because  Nature  had  equipped 
him  for  the  race  he  was  to  run  with  every  possible  addition 
in  mind  and  body  that  should  make  for  ultimate  triumph  in 
the  one  great  enterprise  which  he  was  born  to  guide,  direct, 
and  control  to  its  final  consummation. 

Lincoln's  first  trial  of  his  prowess  against  Douglas  grew 
out  of  one  of  the  debates  in  Speed's  store.  Douglas  had  been 
upholding  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  Party  of  which 
he  was  at  that  time,  as  ever  afterwards,  an  ardent  adherent. 
At  a  heated  stage  of  the  controversy  Douglas  sprang  up  and 
declaring  that  "this  store  is  no  place  to  talk  politics"  chal- 
lenged the  company  to  public  debate  of  the  question  at  issue. 
The  affair  was  arranged,  Douglas,  Calhoun,  Lamborn,  and 
Thomas  representing  the  Democrats;  Logan,  Baker,  Brown- 
ing, and  Lincoln,  the  Whigs.  None  of  the  speeches  of  the 
contest  attracted  unusual  notice  with  the  exception  of  Lin- 
coln's. So  deep  was  the  impression  he  created  that  he  was 
asked  to  furnish  his  speech  to  the  Sangamon  Journal  for 
publication  and  it  afterwards  appeared  in  the  columns  of  that 
paper. 

In  this  debate  he  discovered  the  flaws  in  Douglas'  char- 
acter which  led  him  to  dodge,  cover,  and  misrepresent  facts, 
but  with  such  subtlety,  so  much  fire  and  impetuosity  as 


80  Abraham  Lincoln 


easily  to  deceive  even  critical  observers.  Free  from  sham, 
Lincoln  was  merciless  in  exposing  it  in  others.  And  his 
method,  adopted  at  this  time  in  refuting  Douglas,  he  retained 
and  perfected  for  the  great  debate  more  than  ten  years  later, 
the  results  of  which  had  an  imperishable  influence  on  the 
destinies  of  the  Nation.  At  this  earlier  meeting  Lincoln  said: 

"Those  who  heard  Mr.  Douglas  recollect  that  he  indulged 
himself  in  a  contemptuous  expression  of  pity  for  me.  'Now 
he's  got  me/  thought  I.  But  when  he  went  on  to  say  that 
five  millions  of  the  expenditure  of  1838  were  payments  of 
the  French  indemnities,  which  I  knew  to  be  untrue;  that  five 
millions  had  been  for  the  Post  Office,  which  I  knew  to  be 
untrue;  that  ten  millions  had  been  for  the  Maine  Boundary 
War,  which  I  not  only  knew  to  be  untrue  but  supremely 
ridiculous  also;  and  when  I  saw  that  he  was  stupid  enough  to 
hope  that  I  would  permit  such  groundless  and  audacious 
assertions  to  be  unexposed; — I  readily  consented  that,  on  the 
score  both  of  veracity  and  sagacity,  the  audience  would  judge 
whether  he  or  I  were  the  more  deserving  of  the  world's 
contempt." 

Lincoln's  methods  of  fitting  himself  for  legislative  duties 
were  no  less  characteristic  and  original  than  those  he  had 
used  to  prepare  himself  for  the  law.  His  first  term  in  the 
Legislature  had  been  similar  to  his  practice  of  law  before  the 
New  Salem  Justice.  He  had  studied  rather  than  practiced 
the  arts  of  legislation.  He  was  nominated  to  succeed  himself 
in  1838,  and  elected.  At  this  session  he  received  thirty-eight 
votes  for  Speaker.  His  successful  competitor,  William  L.  D. 
Ewing,  the  Democratic  candidate,  received  forty-three  votes. 
Besides  retaining  a  place  on  the  Finance  Committee  where 
he  had  served  during  his  first  term,  Lincoln  was  assigned  to 
the  Committee  on  Counties.  During  this  term  he  did  what 


Lawyer  and  Legislator  81 

he  could  to  correct  the  evils  that  followed  the  liberal  legis- 
lation on  internal  improvements  in  the  previous  session.  He 
admitted  his  "share  of  the  responsibility  in  the  present 
crisis"  and  finally  concluded  that  he  was  "no  financier " 
after  all. 

No  sooner  had  the  legislature  adjourned  than  he  an- 
nounced himself  again  as  a  candidate.  He  had  been  pursued 
and  villified.  His  enthusiasm  for  the  internal  improvement 
projects  and  the  succeeding  financial  disasters,  gave  his 
Democratic  opponents  material  which  they  were  not  slow  to 
use.  But  the  people  believed  in  him.  It  was  a  Presidential 
year  and  Lincoln  stumped  the  State  for  the  Whigs  and  their 
candidate,  Harrison — a  campaign  founded  on  the  coon-skin 
cap,  the  log  cabin,  and  the  humble  life  of  the  nominee,  which 
had  many  of  the  features  and  something  of  the  defamatory 
characteristics  which  were  to  emphasize  his  own  election  to 
the  Presidency,  then  little  more  than  a  decade  away.  He  was 
selected  as  an  elector  on  the  Harrison  ticket  for  President. 
In  debate  he  frequently  met  Douglas,  who  was  already  the 
standard  bearer  and  leading  exponent  of  the  Democratic  prin- 
ciples. Neither  was  adverse  to  a  conflict.  After  one  of  these 
meetings  with  the  Little  Giant  he  was  greatly  cast  down, 
feeling  that  he  had  been  worsted. 

"He  was  very  sensitive,"  John  Gillespie,  one  of  his  col- 
leagues on  the  stump,  relates,  "where  he  thought  he  had 
failed  to  meet  the  expectations  of  his  friends.  He  was  con- 
scious of  his  failure,  and  I  never  saw  any  man  so  much  dis- 
tressed. He  begged  to  be  permitted  to  try  again,  and  was 
reluctantly  indulged:  and  in  the  next  effort  he  transcended 
our  highest  expectations.  I  never  heard  and  never  expect  to 
hear  such  a  triumphant  vindication  as  he  then  gave  to  Whig 
measures  or  policy.  He  never  after,  to  my  knowledge  fell 
below  himself." 


Chapter  IX 

INFLUENCE  OF  MAMY  TODD 


THE  CAPITAL  of  Illinois  in  1839  was  a  a  verv  lively, 
if  a  somewhat ' '  rough  and  ready' '  city.  The  buildings 
made  little  pretensions  to  archictecture.  Unpaved 
streets  were  cut  deed  with  ruts  and  during  muddy  weather 
were  almost  impassable.  The  population  was  composed  of 
immigrants  from  Eastern  and  Southern  States;  New  Eng- 
land and  Georgia  "swapped"  dialects  to  the  enrichment 
of  expression,  but  to  the  slaughter  of  the  King's  Eng- 
lish. There  were  as  many  brands  of  politics  as  there  were 
gradations  of  sentiment  between  the  State  of  Maine  and  the 
Carolinas.  The  city  and  all  the  country  round  was  continually 
stirred  up  with  "ideas,"  promising  the  settlement  of  con- 
flicting questions,  State  and  National.  Where  two  or  three 
were  gathered  together  there  was  sure  to  be  controversial 
discussion,  if  not  hot  words  and  ready  blows. 

Thus  the  public  life  of  the  community,  while  lacking  in 
social  refinements,  found  an  outlet  for  its  speculations  and 
emotions  in  a  limited  vocabulary  more  or  less  vulgar  and 
profane:  and  its  entertainment,  in  horse  racing,  cock  fight- 
ing and  feats  of  physical  strength  and  skill.  But  the  social 
side  of  Springfield  had  its  degrees  of  caste,  and  there  was  as 
much  show  of  aristocracy  among  the  descendants  of  old 
families  there,  as  at  the  National  Capital.  Statesman  and 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  83 

back-country  ruffian  might  rub  elbows  over  the  same  bar, 
while  they  discussed  politics  or  recounted  their  adventures, 
with  no  thought  of  impropriety;  but  once  the  main  street 
was  left  behind  and  the  region  of  homes  approached,  the 
pride  of  ancestry  and  the  daintier  sense  that  culture  brings, 
put  up  a  strong,  if  invisible  barrier  against  the  leveling 
process  which  is  a  principal  feature  among  the  males  of 
frontier  life.  Neither  there  nor  anywhere  else  has  womankind 
ever  agreed  to  Kipling's  dictum  that, 

The  Colonel's  lady  and  Judy  O'Grady 

Are  sisters  under  the  skin  .  .  . 
Springfield  had  its  "select  circles,"  into  which  were  admitted 
none  but  those  upon  whom  the  goddess  of  respectability  had 
set  her  distinguishing  seal.  Fashion  looked  with  as  withering 
scorn  upon  those  who  were  too  poor  or  too  ignorant  to  follow 
her  decrees  in  the  Capital  of  Illinois,  as  she  did  in  New  York 
or  London. 

Into  this  wild,  rough  prairie  town  came  Miss  Mary  Todd, 
nineteen  years  of  age,  handsome,  piquant,  aristocratic,  with 
ready  wit,  sustained  by  four  years  of  study  in  the  French 
school  of  Mme.  Martelli.  She  came  to  make  her  home  with 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Ninan  Edwards,  whose  husband  was  a  rising 
politician,  already  in  the  Legislature  and  one  of  the  "Long 
Nine"  to  which  Lincoln  belonged,  and  which  had  proved 
powerful  enough  to  capture  the  Capital  for  Springfield 
against  all  odds.  Miss  Todd  was  a  Kentuckian,  a  member  of 
an  old  and  distinguished  family.  Her  family  connections,  her 
natural  charms  of  person,  her  education  and  refinement,  as 
well  as  her  own  delight  in  social  intercourse,  soon  gave  her 
first  place  in  society  circles.  Her  suitors  were  as  many  as  she 
chose  to  encourage.  Among  them  was  Lincoln.  Notwith- 
standing the  pronounced  differences  in  their  natures,  as  well 


84  Abraham  Lincoln 

as  in  birth  and  breeding,  Miss  Todd  seems  from  the  first  to 
have  recognized  Lincoln's  intellectual  superiority,  to  have 
encouraged  him  above  all  others.  Lincoln  proposed  for  her 
hand  and  was  accepted.  Then,  with  that  strange  urge  of 
nature  which  prompts  every  woman  to  try  her  power  over 
the  man  she  has  chosen  for  her  mate,  Miss  Todd  divided  her 
smiles  and  accepted  the  cavalier  attentions  of  Lincoln's 
rivals,  among  them  Douglas.  A  quarrel  followed  and  the 
engagement  was  broken. 

This  brought  on  another  of  those  periods  of  melancholy  to 
which  Lincoln  was  subject,  and  during  which  he  gave  him- 
self up  to  introspection  of  the  most  searching  kind.  There  is 
little  evidence  to  substantiate  the  conclusions  of  some  biog- 
raphers, that  Lincoln's  dejection  was  as  pronounced  as  that 
which  controlled  him  during  those  months  following  the 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge.  He  does  not  seem  to  doubt  that  a 
proposal  on  his  part  for  a  renewal  of  the  engagement  would 
have  been  acceptable  to  Miss  Todd.  His  speculations,  re- 
vealed in  letters  written  to  Speed  at  this  time,  are  those  of  a 
mystic  who  would  peer  into  the  future  and  make  sure  an 
act  of  such  moment  as  this  contemplated,  would  not  prove 
an  obstacle  to  the  still  unrevealed  work  he  felt  himself  called 
to  do  and  for  which  he  was  making  continual  preparation. 

The  mood  was  not  unusual  to  Lincoln.  Before  every  im- 
portant step  he  was  called  upon  to  make,  he  may  be  found 
retiring  into  the  closet  of  his  soul,  there  to  try  conclusions 
with  his  hopes,  his  ambitions,  his  feelings,  before  the  bar  of 
Wisdom.  Questions  which  men  of  smaller  minds  would  have 
decided  upon  the  instant  caused  Lincoln  weeks  and  some- 
times months  of  doubts  so  dark  and  deep  as  to  arouse  fears 
for  his  reason.  We  know  now  that  those  fears  were  ground- 
less. Lincoln  walked  under  the  shadow  of  the  wings  of  the 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  85 

Spirit.  He  listened  to  the  voice  of  conscience.  In  those  great 
moments  when  his  work  was  nearing  its  close  and  when  a 
decision  meant  so  much  to  his  cause,  which  was  ever  the 
cause  of  humanity,  with  agonies  of  mind  beyond  the  power 
of  common  men  to  feel,  with  patience  which  is  the  substance 
of  faith,  trembling  but  determined  upon  the  point  of  action, 
he  waited  until  the  voice  for  which  he  listened  whispered  in 
his  ear  and  bade  him  take  the  step.  The  step  once  taken,  he 
went  forward  without  question.  His  emotions  were  never  so 
intense  as  to  suspend  his  observing  faculties,  and  his  intellect 
was  rapid  enough  to  keep  pace  with  them  and  mark  their 
appointed  course. 

In  a  letter  to  Speed  written  during  the  suspension  of  his 
engagement  to  Miss  Todd,  and  in  which  he  warmly  con- 
gratulates his  old  friend  on  having  won  the  woman  of  his 
choice,  he  says:  "I  should  be  entirely  happy  but  for  the 
never-absent  idea  that  there  is  one  still  unhappy  whom  I 
have  contributed  to  make  so.  That  kills  my  soul.  I  cannot 
but  reproach  myself  for  even  wishing  to  be  happy  while  she 
is  otherwise." 

Three  months  later  in  another  letter  to  Speed,  Lincoln 
shows  himself  once  more  speculating  upon  the  broken  en- 
gagement. Here  he  reveals  himself,  and  the  struggle  between 
the  practical  man  and  the  mystic,  foreshadows  the  Lincoln 
of  the  White  House,  when  not  the  fate  of  two  persons,  but  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  hung  in  the  balance  which  he  was 
compelled  to  hold.  In  this  letter,  referring  to  the  engagement 
he  writes: 

"I  must  gain  confidence  in  my  own  ability  to  keep  my  re- 
solves when  they  are  made.  In  that  ability  I  once  prided  my- 
self as  the  only  chief  gem  of  my  character;  that  gem  I  lost, 
how  and  where  you  know  too  well.  I  have  not  regained  it; 


86  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  until  I  do,  /  cannot  trust  myself  in  any  matter  of  import- 
ance. I  believe  now  that  had  you  understood  my  case  at  the 
time  as  well  as  I  understood  yours  afterwards,  by  the  aid  you 
would  have  given  me  I  should  have  sailed  through  clear;  but 
that  does  not  now  afford  me  sufficient  confidence  to  begin 
that  or  the  like  again  *  *  *  *  I  always  was  superstitious.  I 
believe  God  made  me  one  of  the  instruments  of  bringing 
Fanny  and  you  together,  which  union  I  have  no  doubt  he  had 
foreordained.  Whatever  He  designs  He  will  do  for  me  yet.  'Stand 
still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord*  is  my  text  just  now." 

Lincoln's  mind  had  no  tendency  to  neat  selections  so 
tempting  to  the  love  of  order,  yet  often  dangerous  to  a  cor- 
rect decision  in  questions  of  supreme  moment.  He  reasoned 
from  widely  scattered  events  to  first  cause,  and  found  his 
solution  of  every  problem  that  engaged  his  faculties,  within 
the  problem  itself.  This  passion  for  stripping  a  subject  of  all 
refinement,  so  that  its  supporting  structure  should  appear 
in  its  primal  simplicity,  controlled  his  speculations  in  the 
field  of  love  and  marriage.  He  must  be  satisfied  that  his 
conscience  would  go  with  his  action.  Marriage,  to  his  mind, 
carried  with  it  supreme  obligations.  He  seemed  also  to  have 
been  aware  that  he  was  somehow  a  child  of  destiny,  reserved 
by  Fate  for  a  mission,  the  purpose  of  which  he  was  as  yet 
ignorant,  but  for  which  he  was  being  intelligently  prepared. 

During  the  estrangement  of  which  he  wrote  to  Speed,  and 
for  some  months  afterward  while  the  couple  were  preparing 
to  renew  the  engagement,  ghostly  apparitions  brought  days 
of  doubt  and  despair.  But  when  the  matter  was  finally  de- 
cided and  the  marriage  was  being  arranged,  he  put  all  specu- 
lation behind  him.  Providence  had  given  him  another  help 
and  stay  against  the  coming  deluge.  The  vivacious  Mary 
Todd  became  the  home-making  Mary  Lincoln. 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  87 

She  took  upon  herself  to  see  that  her  absent-minded  spouse 
should  suffer  as  little  from  those  periods  of  abstraction  as 
possible.  She  kept  his  home  for  him.  She  saw  that  he  had  his 
meals  regularly;  that  he  was  properly  nourished  physically; 
that  he  was  free  to  pursue  his  studies;  and  that  neither  his 
friends  nor  his  enemies  should  lead  him  into  doing  anything 
that  would  be  likely  to  mar  his  future.  For  Mary  Lincoln 
also  had  her  premonitions.  She  had  heard  a  whisper  in  her 
girlhood  that  she  was  to  be  the  wife  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  She  recognized  before  any  one  else  that  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  had  the  qualities  of  universal  greatness.  She 
was  ambitious  for  his  personal  honor,  as  it  was  just  and  right 
that  she  should  be.  He  was  ambitious  only  for  a  Cause,  and 
he  realized  that  somehow  he  was  better  fitted  to  present  the 
issues  of  that  Cause  than  any  person  who  had  so  far  appeared 
in  the  arena  during  the  preliminary  contests,  then  being 
staged,  and  which  were  destined  to  lead  to  the  great  trial 
between  Good  and  Evil  that  should  force  the  world  to  stand 
still  and  tremble  for  the  outcome. 

Henry  B.  Rankin  in  his  "Personal  Recollections  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,"  gives  this  lively  portrait  of  Mrs.  Lincoln  as 
he  knew  her:  "In  personal  appearance,"  he  says,  "Mrs.  Lin- 
coln was  not  strikingly  commanding,  nor  was  she  considered 
handsome.  On  seeing  her  for  the  first  time,  one  would  be 
drawn  to  closer  inspection  by  something  in  her  features 
which,  though  not  strictly  of  a  regular  or  beautiful  type, 
were  yet  pretty  when  viewed  in  connection  with  her  com- 
plexion, her  soft  brown  hair,  and  her  clear  brown  eyes  that 
seemed  to  penetrate  to  the  very  soul  as  she  fixed  them 
steadily  upon  you  while  speaking.  Her  husband  and  she  were 
alike  in  one  particular.  Having  once  met  and  conversed  with 
either,  one  would  never  forget  the  impression  made.  Neither 
was  a  conventional  type. 


88  Abraham  Lincoln 

"Mrs.  Lincoln  had  a  plump  rounded  figure,  and  was  rather 
short  in  stature.  Physically,  mentally,  emotionally  she  was 
the  extreme  opposite  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  She  was  exceedingly 
sensitive.  Her  impulsiveness  of  thought  and  speech  had  no 
need  of  restraint  because  her  face  was  always  an  unerring 
index  and  reflection  of  her  passing  emotions,  even  if  she  had 
not  expressed  them  in  words.  She  thought  quickly,  spoke 
rapidly;  and  the  expression  of  her  face  was  always  in  har- 
mony with  her  words.  At  times  of  deep  feeling  her  words 
might  bring  keen  pain  to  persons  toward  whom  she  felt 
kindly  *  *  *  Always  and  everywhere  she  showed  her  refine- 
ment and  dignity  of  character,  entirely  free  from  affectation 
or  the  putting  on  of  manners  for  special  occasions." 

Speaking  of  the  estrangement  and  Lincoln's  depression 
during  that  time,  Mr.  Rankin  says  that  it  was  probably 
aggravated  by  the  opposition  of  Miss  Todd's  relatives  to 
their  marriage,  and  by  the  breaking  off  of  the  engagement. 
This  hardly  covers  the  case,  because  Lincoln's  own  words  to 
Speed  are  direct  on  this  subject.  It  was  Lincoln  who  broke 
the  engagement  and  he  evidently  felt  that  Miss  Todd  was 
suffering  keenly  because  of  their  estrangement,  for  he  accuses 
himself  of  being  the  cause  of  her  suffering.  No  doubt  Lincoln 
was  sensitive  to  the  reflections  of  Miss  Todd's  family  on  his 
humble  parentage  and  poverty  as  a  barrier  to  their  marriage. 
In  view  of  this  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  all  parties  concerned 
at  that  time  to  release  her  from  her  promise.  This  he  had 
done.  However,  when  time  had  cleared  his  mind  of  the  doubts 
which  ever  lay  in  wait  to  caution  him  upon  the  threshold  of 
any  great  action,  he  seems  to  have  considered  whatever 
objections  her  family  may  have  raised  as  trivial.  At  least  they 
did  not  stand  in  the  way  of  his  marriage.  Nor  can  the  wisdom 
of  this  step  be  doubted,  for  Mary  Todd  gave  her  husband 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  89 

her  whole  heart.  Henry  C.  Whitney  pays  her  this  sublime 
tribute: 

"To  him  she  bore  four  children;  with  him  she  sat  by  the 
death-bed  and  stood  by  the  graves  of  two  of  them.  She  re- 
joiced with  him  in  his  successes,  she  condoled  with  him  in 
his  defeats;  and  whenever  she  saw  an  opportunity  for  his 
advancement,  she  stimulated  his  ambition  to  compete  for  it. 
They  were  en  rapport  in  all  the  higher  objects  of  being;  when 
he  was  nominated  for  President  his  first  act  was  to  go  home 
and  in  person  break  the  glad  tidings  to  her.  That  the  Nation 
is  largely  indebted  to  Mary  Todd  Lincoln  for  its  autonomy, 
I  do  not  doubt;  to  the  full  measure  thereof,  only  God  can 
know." 

His  threatened  duel  with  Shields  has  sometimes  been 
emphasized  as  having  a  bearing  upon  Lincoln's  courtship  and 
marriage  with  Mary  Todd.  There  is  nothing  in  the  plain 
records  of  the  affair  that  could  connect  it  in  any  vital  way 
with  this  important  event.  The  challenge  which  James 
Shields  issued  grew  out  of  a  satirical  contribution  which  Lin- 
coln made  to  the  Sangamon  Journal;  but  aside  from  the  in- 
ternal evidence  in  that  paper  of  Lincoln's  powers  as  a  literary 
humorist,  had  he  been  inclined  to  devote  his  energies  to  that 
field  of  art,  and  his  firm  stand  against  being  coerced  by 
threats  in  Shields'  challenge,  which  was  in  harmony  with 
Lincoln's  character  as  time  developed  it,  the  duel  incident  is 
no  more  than  a  side  light  on  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Shields, 
who  was  a  Democratic  state  official  and  also  a  man  who 
prided  himself  on  his  reputation  for  chivalry  and  gallantry, 
demanded  of  Lincoln  a  "full,  positive  and  absolute  retraction 
of  all  offensive  allusions  used  by  you  in  these  communica- 
tions, in  relation  to  my  private  character  and  standing  as  a 
man,  and  an  apology  for  the  insults  conveyed  in  them  This. 


90  Abraham  Lincoln 

may  prevent  consequences  which  no  one  will  regret  more 
than  myself." 

Mr.  Lincoln's  reply  to  this  communication  delivered 
through  General  Whiteside  who  was  acting  for  Shields  is 
characteristic: 

"Fremont,  September  17,  1842. 
"Jas.  Shield,  Esq.,  Your  note  of  today  was  handed  me  by 
General  Whiteside.  In  that  note  you  say  you  have  been  in- 
formed, through  the  medium  of  the  editor  of  the  Journal, 
that  I  am  the  author  of  certain  articles  which  you  deem  per- 
sonally abusive  of  you;  and,  without  stopping  to  inquire 
whether  I  am  really  the  author,  or  to  point  out  what  is 
offensive  in  them,  you  demand  an  unqualified  retraction  of 
all  that  is  offensive,  and  then  proceed  to  hint  at  consequences. 

"Now,  Sir,  there  is  in  this  so  much  assumption  of  facts, 
and  so  much  of  menace  as  to  consequences,  that  I  cannot  sub- 
mit to  answer  that  note  any  further  than  I  have,  and  to  add 
that  the  consequences  to  which  I  suppose  you  allude  would 
be  a  matter  of  as  great  regret  to  me  as  it  possibly  could  to 

you. 

"Respectfully, 

A.  Lincoln" 

There  was  much  friendly  interference  and  great  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  Lincoln  to  confer  with  Shields 
further  on  the  matter,  but  Lincoln  stood  his  ground  on  the 
question  of  "menace"  and  would  listen  to  no  suggestion  of 
compromise  or  explanation  until  Shields  had  himself  with- 
drawn his  threats  and  stated  with  accuracy  his  grounds  for 
complaint.  This  Shields  finally  did  and  the  affair  was 
dropped.  Notwithstanding  the  situation  which  for  a  time 
seemed  to  threaten  tragic  results,  there  was  a  humorous 
feature  introduced  by  Lincoln  in  his  legitimate  choice  of 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  91 

weapons  and  grounds,  the  weapons  being  cavalry  broad- 
swords and  the  distance  being  three  paces  on  either  side,  a 
plank  separating  the  combatants,  over  which  neither  was  to 
cross  without  forfeiture  of  his  life,  and  an  added  distance  of 
the  length  of  the  broadswords.  Lincoln  stated  boldly  that  he 
was  opposed  to  dueling  under  any  circumstances  and  the 
terms  were  so  suggestive  of  his  bent  for  the  ludicrous,  so  al- 
together unusual,  as  to  force  entrance  into  the  dispute  of 
comment  that  could  not  but  put  a  burlesque  complexion  on 
the  whole  affair. 

The  feature  of  this  episode  which  remains  permanent  is 
Lincoln's  determined  stand  against  accepting  any  suggestion 
of  menace,  and  his  willingness,  when  the  menacing  suggestion 
was  withdrawn,  to  make  explanation.  But  even  so,  the  mat- 
ter served  the  gossips  for  many  years  and  Herndon  is  author- 
ity for  Lincoln's  statement  to  him  years  afterward  that  "I 
did  not  intend  to  hurt  Shields  unless  I  did  so  clearly  in  self- 
defense.  If  it  had  been  necessary  I  could  have  split  him  from 
the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  end  of  his  backbone."  And  Hern- 
don adds,  "When  one  takes  into  consideration  the  conditions 
of  the  weapons  and  position  required  in  his  instructions  to 
Dr.  Merryman,  the  boast  does  not  seem  impossible. ' ' 

The  marriage  of  Lincoln  in  no  way  diminished  his  love  for 
politics;  in  fact,  it  stimulated  his  zeal  in  that  direction.  He 
had  gained  the  ear  of  his  public  and  now  embraced  every 
opportunity  that  offered  for  public  discussion  of  the  question 
of  the  day.  Early  in  the  year  1842  he  delivered  a  carefully 
prepared  lecture  on  temperance,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Springfield,  which  discovered  such  broad  sympathies  for 
the  inebriate  and  such  sharp  rebuke  to  professed  Christians 
who  stood  aloof  from  them,  as  to  arouse  considerable  feeling 
among  those  who  listened  to  him.  Lincoln  often  said  that  he 


92  Abraham  Lincoln 

hated  liquor  but  sympathized  with  those  who  became  vic- 
tims of  its  power.  Speaking  of  certain  Christians  who  ob- 
jected to  the  association  of  drunkards,  even  with  the  chance 
of  reforming  them,  he  said: 

"If  they  (the  Christians)  believe,  as  they  profess,  that 
Omnipotence  condescended  to  take  on  Himself  the  form  of 
sinful  man,  and  as  such  die  an  ignominious  death,  surely  they 
will  not  refuse  submission  to  the  infinitely  lesser  condescen- 
sion for  the  temporal  and  perhaps  eternal  salvation  of  a  large 
and  erring  and  unfortunate  class  of  their  fellow-creatures. 
Nor  is  the  condescension  very  great.  In  my  judgment  such 
of  us  as  have  never  fallen  victims  have  been  spared  more  from 
the  absence  of  appetite  than  from  any  mental  or  moral 
superiority  over  those  who  have.  Indeed,  I  believe  if  we  take 
habitual  drunkards  as  a  class,  their  heads  and  their  hearts 
will  bear  an  advantageous  comparison  with  those  of  any 
other  class." 

It  hardly  seems  possible  that  such  a  broad  sympathy  and 
clear  understanding  of  human  nature,  proclaimed  at  such  a 
time  and  with  such  apparent  sincerity  from  the  best  of  mo- 
tives, could  result  in  anything  but  conviction.  But  the  effect 
was  otherwise.  This  utterance  cost  Lincoln  dear  enough.  It 
turned  numbers  of  church  people  against  him,  saying  that  in 
his  opening  statement  he  had  cast  a  doubt  upon  their  profes- 
sions. Lincoln  was  only  giving  publicity  to  the  great  sym- 
pathy he  had  for  men  in  all  conditions  of  life  and  under  all 
circumstances,  and  proclaiming  for  the  drunkard  at  that  time 
the  same  feeling  of  brotherhood  and  the  same  hope  which  he 
proclaimed  in  later  years  to  the  unfortunate  of  another  Race 
and  Color.  He  was  no  man  for  the  second-hand  errors  of 
indolent  or  imitative  intellects.  His  was  a  searching,  copious 
and  original  mind.  Time  wrought  no  revolution,  no  change 


Influence  of  Mary  Todd  93 

in  his  habits  and  feelings.  All  that  he  had  been,  he  continued 
to  be;  all  that  he  had  done,  he  continued  to  do.  Their  opera- 
tion was  one  of  pure  addition. 

Lincoln  was  now  associated  in  law  with  Stephen  T.  Logan, 
a  man  of  fine  legal  attainments,  his  former  partner,  Stuart, 
having  gone  to  Congress.  Logan  was  a  man  of  method  and 
Lincoln  caught  from  him  a  desire  for  more  thoroughness  in 
the  details  of  his  profession,  setting  himself  to  order  his  work 
with  system  and  exactitude.  The  latter  quality  he  persevered 
in  and  retained  to  the  day  of  his  death.  The  former  he  used 
as  a  tool  when  it  suited  his  purpose.  But  he  could  never  bring 
himself  to  consider  time  otherwise  than  a  medium  for  in- 
spirational effort.  He  used  time  as  he  used  clothes,  to  move 
about  in  but  not  to  be  ordered  after  any  definite  pattern. 
His  pre-vision  was  too  clear  to  allow  him  to  plod  along  any 
beaten  path,  either  setting  rules  for  acquiring  knowledge  or 
presenting  the  fruits  of  knowledge  for  necessary  ends.  He 
threw  aside  all  the  refinements  of  logic  as  he  threw  aside  his 
coat  when  it  was  in  his  way,  and  probed  straight  to  the  heart 
of  any  matter  he  might  have  in  hand.  He  liked  best  to  bring 
the  meat  of  his  argument  to  light  by  an  apt  story  or  homely 
fable.  He  rejoiced  in  life  and  the  utterance  of  it.  He  sought 
to  convince  the  whole  man — head,  heart,  and  spirit.  He 
cared  more  to  be  convincing  than  brilliant.  In  law  he  searched 
for  the  elemental  qualities,  and  in  politics  his  methods  were 
the  same.  His  sense  of  humor  was  contagious.  Even  at  this 
early  stage  of  his  career  he  could  gather  a  crowd  of  a  hundred 
or  more  upon  the  street  and  set  them  all  off  into  roars  of 
laughter,  with  no  apparent  exhaustion  of  his  store  of  wit 
and  humor. 

We  cannot  account  for  Lincoln  without  considering  him 
the  result  of  a  Cause.  The  impulse  which  preceded   his 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

thought  was  the  urge  of  his  time,  and  took  its  form  and  ex- 
pression from  his  environment,  moderated  certainly  by  his 
individual  genius.  Records  of  all  ages  which  have  possessed 
the  qualities  of  permanence  are  of  themselves  proof  of  this 
opinion.  Shakespeare's  declaration  that  the  purpose  of  dra- 
matic art  is  "to  hold,  as  'twere,  the  mirror  up  to  Nature;  to 
show  virtue  her  own  feature,  scorn  her  own  image,  and  the  very 
age  and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and  pressure,"  is  not  a  bit 
of  fine  rhetoric  but  a  deep  conviction  born  of  his  own  experi- 
ence. With  supreme  poetical  power  the  dramatist  had  so 
often  transported  himself  to  other  times  and  other  countries, 
had  lived  with  Roman  Senators,  had  laughed  and  wept  with 
romantic  Venetians,  been  a  Briton  at  the  several  periods  of 
England's  history,  from  the  mythological  period  of  "Lear" 
to  the  latest  of  his  historical  plays,  and  had  so  often  felt  in 
his  audience  the  response  to  his  ideas  when  they  were  true 
to  "the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time,"  that  he  spoke 
directly  out  of  his  own  acquired  knowledge,  as  well  as  with 
the  inspiration  of  genius. 

That  is  the  nature  of  the  poet.  More  than  any  other  author 
Shakespeare  functioned  upon  the  very  borderland  of  crea- 
tion. His  ideas  fledged  and  feathered  and  plumed  themselves 
in  the  nests  he  built  for  them,  and  ventured  forth  to  try  con- 
clusions with  the  nature  of  which  they  were  a  part.  Lincoln 
was  not  born  to  create  but  to  preserve.  His  mission  was  to 
preserve  the  Union.  His  theatre  was  not  a  Globe  Theatre 
built  by  the  hand  of  man,  but  the  great  Illinois  Prairies,  and 
later  the  whole  United  States.  Yet  he  was  no  less  responsive 
to  the  environment  in  which  he  moved  for  the  perfection  of 
his  work,  than  was  Shakespeare. 


Chapter  X 


IT  IS  SAFE  to  say  that  a  sympathetic  reading  of  the  best 
literature  of  any  period  of  the  world's  history  will  re- 
produce its  c'age  and  body"  in  the  mind  of  the  reader, 
no  matter  in  what  field  of  speculation  the  writer  may  have 
worked.  In  a  broad  way  Nature  remains  always  harmonious. 
No  American  Beauty  Roses  have  been  discovered  among  the 
effects  of  the  cave  dweller  of  the  Stone  Age.  The  rosy-cheeked 
apple  of  the  twentieth  century  would  have  been  out  of  keeping 
with  the  man  of  that  time.  The  sour  little  crab  and  the  small 
almost  colorless  flower  have  kept  pace  with  man,  and  the 
cultured  woman  and  the  studious  philosopher  sit  down  to  a 
table  covered  with  spotless  linen  with  the  splendid  apple  and 
the  beautiful  rose  to  respond  to  their  refined  sense  of  the 
beautiful. 

The  Illinois  of  Lincoln's  day  and  that  of  ours  have  almost 
as  radical  differences  of  complexion  as  those  here  noted  be- 
tween the  ages  of  man.  Lincoln,  himself,  was  a  product  of  the 
soil,  a  wilderness  child,  and  the  road  he  had  come  from  baby- 
hood in  the  forest  of  Kentucky  to  the  Capital  of  a  rapidly 
developing  state  was  ages  long  in  experience  and  one  which 
Lincoln  must  have  appreciated,  for  we  find  him  before  he  has 
reached  the  age  of  thirty  referring  to  himself  as  old,  and  a 
little  later  to  "  these  old  eyes  of  mine."  His  quick  response  to 


96  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  life  about  him,  and  the  simplicity  of  nature  which  kept 
him  in  dress,  manners,  and  speech  like  one  made  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  his  time  and  place,  gave  him  unequaled  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  feelings  of  his  fellows,  and  that  God-like 
power  to  present  principles  and  produce  convictions  in  the 
minds  of  the  wild,  the  uncultured  and  the  ignorant. 

In  1843  Lincoln  made  another  change  of  partners,  this  time 
selecting  William  H.  Herndon,  a  man  considerably  younger 
than  himself  but  of  studious  habits  and  with  a  growing  love 
of  literature.  This  was  because  Judge  Logan  had  political 
aspirations  similar  to  those  of  Lincoln,  as  that  year  they  were 
both  candidates  for  the  nomination  to  Congress.  Herndon 
gives  this  intimate  picture  of  the  formation  of  his  partnership 
with  Lincoln,  a  partnership  which  continued  without  any 
break  as  long  as  Lincoln  lived. 

"Lincoln  came  rushing  into  my  office  quarters  one  morning 
and  with  more  or  less  agitation  told  me  he  had  determined  to 
sever  the  partnership  with  Logan.  I  confess  I  was  surprised 
when  he  invited  me  to  become  his  partner.  I  was  young  in  the 
practice  and  was  painfully  aware  of  my  want  of  ability  and 
experience;  but  when  he  remarked  in  his  earnest,  honest  way, 
'  Billy,  I  can  trust  you  if  you  can  trust  me/  I  felt  relieved,  and 
accepted  his  generous  proposal.  It  has  always  been  a  matter 
of  pride  with  me  that  during  our  long  partnership,  continuing 
on  until  dissolved  by  the  bullet  of  the  assassin,  we  never  had 
any  personal  controversy  or  disagreement." 

Lincoln's  efforts  to  obtain  the  congressional  nomination  in 
1843  brought  out  several  unique  and  amusing  incidents.  He 
and  Edward  D.  Baker  were  the  Sangamon  County  aspirants. 
Baker's  long  residence,  extensive  acquaintance,  and  general 
popularity  served  him  well  in  the  campaign  and  at  the  last 
moment  Lincoln  reluctantly  withdrew  from  the  field.  He 


Apostle  of  Democracy  97 

gives  the  following  account  of  the  situation  in  a  letter  to 
Speed,  of  date  March  24,  1843: 

"We  had  a  meeting  of  the  Whigs  of  the  County  here  last 
Monday  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  District  Convention,  and 
Baker  beat  me  and  got  the  delegation  instructed  to  go  for 
him.  The  meeting,  in  spite  of  my  attempt  to  decline  it, 
appointed  me  one  of  the  delegates,  so  that  in  getting  Baker 
nominated  I  shall  be  fixed  a  good  deal  like  the  fellow  who  is 
made  groomsman  to  a  man  that  has  cut  him  out  and  is 
marrying  his  own  dear  gal." 

The  balm  for  all  his  wounds  Lincoln  found  in  humorous 
comparisons.  A  letter  at  this  time  to  another  friend  reveals 
the  careful  study  Lincoln  made  of  his  political  campaigns  and 
assembles  the  elements  which  contributed  to  the  results.  The 
fairness  displayed  and  the  utter  absence  of  any  feeling  of 
bitterness,  or  what  politicians  call  revenge,  is  as  apparent 
here  as  in  those  sublime  Inaugural  Addresses  which  he  after- 
ward gave  to  the  world: 

"It  is  truly  gratifying  to  me  to  learn  that  while  the  people 
of  Sangamon  have  cast  me  off,  my  old  friends  of  Menard, 
who  have  known  me  the  longest  and  best,  stick  to  me.  It 
would  astonish  if  not  amuse  the  older  citizens  to  learn  that  I 
(a  strange,  friendless,  uneducated,  penniless  boy,  working  on 
a  flat-boat  at  ten  dollars  per  month)  have  been  put  down  here 
as  a  candidate  of  pride,  wealth,  and  aristocratic  family  dis- 
tinction. Yet  so,  chiefly,  it  was.  There  was,  too,  the  strangest 
combination  of  church  influence  against  me.  Baker  is  a 
Campbellite  and  therefore,  I  suppose,  with  few  exceptions  got 
all  that  church.  My  wife  has  some  relations  in  the  Presby- 
terian Churches  and  some  with  the  Episcopalian  Churches, 
and  therefore,  wherever  it  would  tell,  I  was  set  down  as 
either  one  or  the  other,  while  it  was  everywhere  contended 


98  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  no  Christian  ought  to  go  for  me  because  I  belonged  to  no 
church,  was  suspected  of  being  a  Deist,  and  talked  about 
fighting  a  duel.  With  all  these  things  Baker,  of  course,  had 
nothing  to  do;  nor  do  I  complain  of  them.  As  to  his  own 
Church  going  for  him  I  think  that  was  right  enough;  and  as 
to  the  influences  I  have  spoken  of  in  the  others,  though  they 
were  very  strong,  it  would  be  grossly  unjust  to  charge  that 
they  acted  upon  them  in  a  body  or  were  very  near  so.  I  only 
mean  that  those  influences  levied  a  tax  of  considerable  per 
cent  throughout  the  religious  controversy." 

Neither  Baker  nor  Lincoln  obtained  the  coveted  honor,  the 
Convention,  which  was  held  soon  after  in  Pekin,  picking 
another  man.  Lincoln  bore  this  defeat  with  manful  mag- 
nanimity. The  only  feature  of  it  to  which  he  made  protest 
after  the  Convention  was  the  charge  of  his  so-called  "aristo- 
cratic family  distinction."  To  his  friend,  James  Mathaney,  a 
few  days  later  he  protested  "vehemently  and  with  great 
emphasis"  that  he  was  anything  but  aristocratic  and  proud. 

"Why,  Jim,"  he  said,  "I  am  now  and  always  shall  be  the 
same  Abe  Lincoln  I  was  when  you  first  saw  me." 

In  the  campaign  of  1844  Lincoln  was  a  Presidential  Elector 
and  stumped  the  State  for  Clay.  The  defeat  of  the  gallant  and 
magnetic  statesman  by  Polk  was  a  terrific  blow  to  his  follow- 
ers. Men  were  never  before  so  enlisted  in  any  man's  cause  and 
when  the  great  Whig  chieftain  went  down,  his  followers  suf- 
fered utter  demoralization.  It  was  thought  by  many  to  pre- 
sage the  end  of  popular  government.  But  in  the  struggle  Lin- 
coln's power  as  a  debater  had  been  developed,  his  acquaint- 
ance favorably  broadened,  and  in  all  political  deliberations 
his  influence  was  considered.  In  1846  he  was  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  Convention  for  Congress,  Logan  having  with- 
drawn in  favor  of  his  old  law  partner.  Peter  Cartwright,  the 


Apostle  of  Democracy  99 

famous  Methodist  divine,  was  his  Democratic  opponent,  and 
a  formidable  adversary.  The  campaign  was  bitterly  contested 
and  the  charges  previously  made  against  Lincoln  as  a  non- 
believer  were  forced  to  the  front.  Lincoln  refused  to  debate 
the  question  of  religion,  declaring  privately  that  it  had  no 
place  in  the  controversy.  He  trusted  to  the  fairness  of  the 
people's  judgment  on  a  question  of  personal  belief,  and  made 
his  appeal  on  the  questions  of  the  day.  He  was  elected  by  a 
flattering  majority  and  went  to  Washington  to  accumulate 
further  knowledge  in  legislative  matters  and  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  men  of  ability  and  force  in  the  Nation. 

In  Congress  Lincoln  openly  opposed  the  President  on  the 
Mexican  War  and  introduced  the  famous  "Spot  Resolutions" 
by  which  he  was  enabled  to  interrogate  the  President  as  to 
the  principles  he  espoused  in  that  adventure.  However,  when 
war  was  declared,  he  stood  by  the  Government  in  voting 
supplies  for  the  troops;  but  he  did  not  retire  from  his  position 
that  the  President's  invasion  of  foreign  soil  was  unconstitu- 
tional. On  February  15,  1848,  he  wrote  to  Herndon: 

"The  provision  of  the  Constitution  giving  the  war-making 
power  to  Congress  was  dictated,  as  I  understand  it,  by  the 
following  reasons:  Kings  had  always  been  involving  and  im- 
poverishing their  people  in  wars,  pretending  generally,  if  not 
always,  that  the  good  of  the  people  was  the  object.  This  our 
Convention  understood  to  be  the  most  oppressive  of  all 
kingly  oppressions  and  they  resolved  to  so  frame  the  Consti- 
tution that  no  man  should  hold  the  power  of  bringing  this 
oppression  upon  us.  But  your  view,  i.e.,  'that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  is  the  Commander  of  the  Army  and 
Navy;  that  as  such  Commander  it  is  his  duty,  in  the  absence 
of  Congress,  if  the  country  was  about  to  be  invaded  and 
armies  were  organized  in  Mexico  for  that  purpose,  to — if 


100  Abraham  Lincoln 


necessary — go  into  the  very  heart  of  Mexico  and  prevent  in- 
vasion/ destroys  the  whole  matter,  and  places  our  President 
where  kings  have  always  stood." 

It  has  been  argued  many  times  since,  that  Lincoln  in  his 
Emancipation  Proclamation  exercised  the  right  he  here  so 
plainly  condemns,  but  that  argument  is  erroneous  because 
the  President  did  not  declare  war  or  override  the  Constitu- 
tion in  that  act.  The  Constitution  provides  that  the  President 
being  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  in  time  of 
war  may  use  that  power  in  any  way  necessary  for  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  that  war.  Lincoln  freed  the  slaves  as  a 
measure  of  necessity  during  the  war,  and  did  not  use  his  pre- 
rogative as  a  means  of  freeing  them  in  times  of  peace. 

In  June  of  that  year  Lincoln  was  a  delegate  to  the  Whig 
Convention  which  met  in  Philadelphia  and  nominated  Gen- 
eral Taylor  for  President.  He  thought  the  nomination  a  wise 
one  and  predicted  the  election  of  "Old  Rough"  in  a  letter  as 
follows:  "In  my  opinion  we  shall  have  a  most  overwhelming 
and  glorious  triumph.  One  unmistakable  sign  is  that  all  the 
odds  and  ends  are  with  us — barn-burners,  native  Americans, 
Tyler  men,  disappointed  office-seeking  locofocos,  and  the 
Lord  knows  what  not  *  *  *  Taylor's  nomination  takes  the 
locos  on  the  blind  side.  It  turns  the  war  thunder  against  them. 
The  war  is  now  the  gallows  of  Haman,  which  they  have  built 
for  us  and  on  which  they're  doomed  to  be  hanged  them- 
selves." 

Lincoln  was  fast  learning  to  judge  the  pulse  of  the  Nation. 
His  letters  at  this  time  reveal  a  keen  political  mind.  As  in  a 
wrestling  bout  he  had  practiced  to  take  advantage  of  all 
"holds"  and  thought  it  right  to  use  all  his  strength  at  the 
proper  moment  to  overthrow  his  opponent,  so  in  politics  he 
approached  a  contest  with  all  his  senses  alert  and  his  whole 


Apostle  of  Democracy  101 

being  ready  for  every  advantage.  In  either  case,  however,  he 
shunned  any  advantage  that  might  be  gained  by  crookedness. 
Always  he  fought  a  good  fight,  while  he  kept  the  faith.  Let 
the  search  be  where  it  will  among  the  voluminous  records 
gathered  with  patience  in  every  available  quarter  by  lovers  of 
Lincoln,  as  well  as  critics,  and  there  cannot  be  found  one 
instance  where  he  ever  acted  or  counseled  political  dishonesty. 
Direct  in  attack,  terrific  in  battle,  generous  in  conquest,  and 
just  in  defeat,  he  made  his  way  from  poverty  to  the  Pres- 
idency, every  step  a  contest  with  superior  forces,  every  ad- 
vance a  fight  against  terrific  odds,  and  always  an  honest  man. 

In  the  lists  for  political  honors  he  was  generally  pitted 
against  men  who  had  already  won  the  favor  of  the  public, 
and  who  were  made  favorites  and  set  down  to  win  from  the 
start.  He  defeated  the  champion  of  the  Democratic  Party 
decisively,  and  in  turn  defeated  the  champions  of  his  own 
Party,  men  who  had  been  head  and  front  of  the  very  move- 
ment he  espoused.  But  out  of  all  those  struggles  and  fierce 
contests  for  distinction,  he  came  with  clean  hands.  His  blows 
cut  deep,  but  left  no  cankering  sores,  only  honorable  scars. 
His  logic  triumphed,  but  only  to  advance  the  learning  of  his 
opponents.  His  wisdom  revealed  the  erroneous  position  of  the 
opposing  forces,  while  at  the  same  time  it  shone  like  a  kindly 
sun  to  make  the  devastated  ground  again  fertile  and  produc- 
tive. Formidable  as  an  antagonist,  he  was  equally  generous 
as  a  conqueror.  The  great  humanity  of  the  man  made  it  im- 
possible for  those  whom  he  directly  opposed  to  refuse  their 
admiration,  even  when  they  were  beaten;  and  all  along  the 
path  of  his  advancement  stood  the  ambitious  and  honorably 
defeated,  as  Douglas  stood  at  his  first  inauguration,  proud 
humbly  to  serve  where  they  had  thought  to  rule. 

This  is  history's  challenge  to  those  who  would  class  Lincoln 


102  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  scheming  politicians  and  deny  him  the  first  order  of 
statesmanship.  He  conquered  his  enemies  head  and  heart, 
and  Destiny,  for  the  instrument  of  his  taking  off,  was  forced 
to  go  outside  the  realm  of  those  active  in  the  great  political 
drama,  North  and  South,  and  employ  an  instrument  removed 
from  either  and  schooled  in  the  phenomena  of  passion,  to  con- 
summate the  mighty  tragedy. 

We  are  far  ahead  of  the  chronological  record  but  the  view 
we  are  taking  of  this  man  is  not  one  that  can  be  measured  by 
years  nor  by  single  events.  The  weight  of  all  those  years  he 
passed  on  earth  he,  himself,  seems  to  have  felt  at  every  point 
of  his  advance.  Twice  during  his  stay  in  Congress  he  refers  to 
himself  as  old.  In  his  letter  to  Herndon  telling  of  the  effect 
upon  him  by  a  speech  made  by  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  he 
writes  almost  subconsciously,  "My  old,  withered,  dry  eyes 
are  full  of  tears  yet." 

Again  a  few  days  later  to  the  same  correspondent,  he  de- 
clares, "I  am  now  one  of  the  old  men." 

The  often  expressed  sentiment  of  those  plain  people  who 
knew  him  from  boyhood  that  "Lincoln  never  seemed  to  be 
young  from  a  child,"  seems  in  the  light  of  his  own  unstudied 
words  to  have  been  a  reflection  of  his  own  primal  knowledge 
of  himself.  It  calls  to  mind  Emerson's  transcendent  phrase  in 
his  letter  to  Walt  Whitman,  after  reading  the  first  edition  of 
Leaves  of  Grass:  "I  greet  you  at  the  beginning  of  a  great 
career,  which  yet  must  have  had  a  long  foreground  some- 
where, for  such  a  start." 

Lincoln  was  like  Nature,  revealing  himself  so  freely,  so 
generously,  so  fully  and  with  such  universal  acceptance,  that 
he  eludes  any  attempt  to  classify  him  either  in  character  or 
time.  Boswell  has  made  Dr.  Johnson  one  of  the  best  known 
personalities;  Lincoln  made  himself  the  best  known  indivi- 


Apostle  of  Democracy  103 

dual  in  the  annals  of  time.  Johnson  with  all  his  seeming  can- 
dor never  drew  aside  the  veil  of  his  soul;  Lincoln  opened  the 
door  to  his  inner  temple  for  all  the  world  to  see. 

Lincoln  returned  to  Springfield  from  his  one  term  in 
Congress  and  did  his  best  to  elect  his  old  mentor  and  law 
partner,  Judge  Logan,  to  the  seat.  Logan  was  defeated.  The 
Whig  Party  was  disintegrating  and  the  new  Republican 
Party,  that  was  destined  to  play  its  mighty  part  in  the 
Nation,  was  putting  off  its  swaddling  clothes.  Lincoln,  who 
was  soon  to  captain  the  Ship  of  State  upon  its  voyage  of  dis- 
covery into  hitherto  unexplored  regions  of  human  affairs, 
discouraged  any  suggestions  of  his  running  for  office,  and 
gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  the  great  problem  of  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  now  overshadowing  the  country  with  its 
dark  wings.  On  his  way  home  from  Washington,  following  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  he  had  gone  through  New  York 
and  some  of  the  New  England  States  making  a  number  of 
speeches  for  Taylor.  The  impression  he  created  was  one  of 
respect  for  his  clear  logic  and  an  evident  appreciation  of  his 
humor.  But  the  people  there,  used  to  forensic  fire  and  figure, 
stately  periods  and  philosophical  conclusions,  were  illy  pre- 
pared to  follow  so  strange  and  new  a  presentation  of  facts; 
and  reporters,  to  whom  the  Alleghanies  were  the  boundary 
line  of  civilization  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  ambitious  to 
excel  in  caricature,  dwelt  at  great  length  on  his  odd  personal- 
ity to  the  exclusion  of  the  vital  matter  of  his  speeches.  Never- 
theless, he  made  a  pronounced  impression,  hardly  recognized 
at  the  time,  but  of  such  vigorous  seed  that  the  harvest  a  few 
years  later  gave  returns  a  hundred  fold. 

That  Lincoln  was  already  deeply  pondering  the  slave  ques- 
tion is  made  evident  by  his  remark  to  Seward  following  a 
meeting  at  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  where  he  had  listened 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 


with  rapt  attention  to  the  New  England  statesman.  That 
evening  while  they  were  together  as  fellow  lodgers  at  a  hotel, 
Lincoln  said,  "Governor  Seward,  I  have  been  thinking  about 
what  you  said  in  your  speech.  I  reckon  you  are  right.  We  have 
got  to  deal  with  this  slavery  question  and  got  to  give  more 
attention  to  it  hereafter  than  we  have  been  doing." 

Lincoln  returned  to  Illinois  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
practice  of  law  as  a  means  of  making  money — 

"Not  for  to  hide  it  in  a  hedge, 
Nor  for  a  trained  attendant, 

But  for  the  glorious  privilege 
Of  being  independent. " 
As  he  had  used  the  ax,  the  flatboat,  the  country  store,  sur- 
veying, so  he  used  the  law,  as  a  means  to  an  end,  and  that 
end,  the  culture  of  his  mind.  As  he  had  conquered  in  each  of 
those  several  endeavors,  so  far  as  they  were  to  be  conquered, 
or  had  perfected  himself  in  each  so  far  as  it  served  his  purpose 
so  now  he  set  himself  to  conquer  the  law  and  perfect  himself 
in  it,  using  it  sanely  and  justly,  bringing  to  it  a  mind  as 
dramatically  logical  as  iEsop's,  and  as  tenderly  humane  as 
Tom  Hood's. 

Lincoln  had  a  settled  horror  of  being  in  debt,  either  for 
material  supplies  or  for  political  favors.  If  circumstances 
forced  him  to  accept  such  obligations  he  was  never  content 
until  he  had  cancelled  the  obligation,  principal  and  interest. 
The  debts  incurred  by  the  firm  of  Berry  and  Lincoln  in  their 
mercantile  venture  in  New  Salem,  and  for  which  he  held  him- 
self individually  responsible,  he  was  some  years  in  liquidat- 
ing, but  he  finally  paid  them  to  the  last  farthing.  His  scrupu- 
lous adherence  to  this  principle  of  getting  out  from  under 
obligations  incurred,  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  helped 
him  immensely  in  keeping  his  political  slate  clean,  so  that 


Apostle  of  Democracy  105 

when  he  was  finally  nominated  for  the  Presidency,  there  was 
none  to  come  forward  with  a  just  claim  to  patronage  founded 
on  unpaid  service  to  him.  With  that  keen  perception  of  the 
fundamental  characteristics  which,  possibly  because  their 
eyes  are  not  overshadowed  so  much  by  refinements  and  the 
study  of  phenomena,  and  seek  the  object  of  their  regard  in 
the  elements  of  feeling  rather  than  in  the  discoveries  of 
reason,  ever  marks  their  estimate  of  a  man  who  stands 
against  the  horizon  of  great  events,  the  people  dubbed  him 
"Honest  Old  Abe." 

Lincoln  came  back  from  Washington  basically  the  same 
but  with  a  broader  outlook.  Seemingly  abandoned  by  the 
Whigs  for  his  bold  stand  in  Congress  on  the  Mexican  War, 
and  facing  possible  political  obscurity,  he  was  not  soured  nor 
cast  down. 

Herndon  records  his  impressions  of  the  change.  "I  could 
notice  a  difference  in  Lincoln's  movement  as  a  lawyer  from 
this  time  forward.  He  had  begun  to  realize  lack  of  discipline, 
a  want  of  mental  training  and  method.  He  now  began  to 
study  law  in  earnest.  No  man  had  greater  power  of  applica- 
tion than  he.  Once  fixing  his  mind  on  any  subject,  nothing 
could  interfere  with  or  disturb  him.  Frequently  I  would  go 
out  on  the  circuit  with  him.  We  stopped  usually  at  little 
country  inns,  occupying  the  same  bed.  In  most  cases  the  beds 
were  too  short  for  him  and  his  feet  would  hang  over  the  foot- 
board, thus  exposing  a  limited  expanse  of  shin  bone.  Placing 
a  candle  on  a  chair  at  the  head  of  the  bed  he  would  read  and 
study  for  hours.  I  have  known  him  to  study  in  this  position 
till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Meanwhile,  I  and  the  others 
who  chanced  to  occupy  the  same  room  would  be  safely  and 
soundly  asleep.  On  the  circuit  in  this  way  he  studied  Euclid 
until  he  would  with  ease  demonstrate  all  the  propositions  in 


106  Abraham  Lincoln 


the  six  books.  How  he  could  maintain  his  mental  equilibrium 
or  concentrate  his  thoughts  on  an  abstract  mathematical 
proposition  while  Davis,  Logan,  Sweet,  Edwards  and  I  so 
industriously  and  volubly  filled  the  air  with  our  interminable 
snoring,  was  a  problem  none  of  us  could  solve." 

But  his  thirst  for  knowledge  did  not  dampen  his  love  of 
life.  The  lawyers  practicing  with  him  were  generally  men  of 
large  attainments  and  legal  acumen.  The  life  of  the  circuit 
was  in  its  human  side  a  sort  of  Canterbury  pilgrimage.  Over 
half  the  year  was  spent  by  these  lawyers  in  following  the 
courts  to  the  different  counties.  The  homely  inns  were  sup- 
plied with  common  office  and  bar  room.  Here  the  lawyers 
would  gather  at  night  to  enter  the  lists  in  story-telling  con- 
tests as  a  relief  from  the  strenuous  demands  upon  their  wit 
and  learning  in  the  court  room.  There  was  no  over-refinement 
in  the  progress  of  the  tales  they  told.  The  teller  proving  less 
than  human  and  dramatic,  he  was  in  disgrace.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  response  to  a  lively  story  or  a  cleverly  turned  epi- 
gram was  immediate  and  hearty.  Lincoln  is  proclaimed  by  all 
his  compeers  as  having  been  the  most  original  in  conception 
and  dramatic  in  delivery  of  any  of  his  rivals  in  these  imagina- 
tive jousts.  His  power  of  mimicry  was  of  the  first  order.  In  re- 
cital he  was  both  stage  and  actor.  His  countenance  and 
features  seemed  to  take  part  in  the  performance. 

"As  he  neared  the  pith  or  point  of  the  joke  or  story,"  said 
Herndon,  "every  vestige  of  seriousness  disappeared  from  his 
face.  His  gray  eyes  sparkled;  a  smile  seemed  to  gather  up, 
curtain  like,  the  corners  of  his  mouth;  his  frame  quivered 
with  suppressed  excitement;  and  when  the  point,  or  'nub*  of 
the  story,  as  he  called  it,  came,  no  one's  laugh  was  heartier 
than  his." 

In  later  years  when  he  was  bowed  under  the  woes  of  a 


Apostle  of  Democracy  107 

Union  on  the  verge  of  dismemberment,  those  early  creations 
of  humor,  with  perhaps  their  "nubs"  changed  to  fit  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  occasion,  were  often  resurrected  and  played 
again  their  part  in  keeping  that  mighty  heart  from  breaking. 

The  chronicle  of  those  "  circuit "  days  is  rich  with  fables 
which  bear  the  Lincoln  stamp.  Henry  B.  Rankin,  a  student 
in  the  office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  tells  the  following 
characteristic  anecdote: 

"Returning  from  off  the  circuit  once,  Lincoln  said  to  Hern- 
don: 'Billy,  I  heard  a  good  story  while  I  was  up  in  the 

country.  Judge  D was  complimenting  the  landlord  on 

the  excellence  of  his  beef.  "I  am  surprised,"  he  said,  "that 
you  have  such  good  beef.  You  must  have  to  kill  a  whole  crit- 
ter when  you  want  any."  "Yes,"  said  the  landlord,  "we 
never  kill  less  than  a  whole  critter." 

Rankin  further  gives  this  intimate  picture  of  Lincoln  in  his 
law  office.  "Lincoln's  favorite  position  when  unraveling  some 
knotty  law  point,"  he  says,  "was  to  stretch  both  of  his  legs  at 
full  length  up  in  a  chair  in  front  of  him.  In  this  position,  with 
books  on  a  table  near  by  and  in  his  lap,  he  worked  up  his  case. 
No  matter  how  deeply  interested  in  his  work,  if  any  one  came 
in,  he  had  something  humorous  or  pleasant  to  say  and  usually 
wound  up  by  telling  a  joke  or  anecdote.  I  have  heard  him 
relate  the  same  story  three  times  within  as  many  hours  to 
persons  who  came  in  at  different  periods,  and  every  time  he 
laughed  as  heartily  and  enjoyed  it  as  if  it  were  a  new  story. 
His  humor  was  infectious.  I  had  to  laugh  because  I  though  it 
funny  that  Mr.  Lincoln  enjoyed  a  story  so  repeatedly  told. 

"There  was  no  order  in  the  office  at  all.  The  firm  of  Lincoln 
and  Herndon  kept  no  books.  They  divided  their  fees  without 
taking  any  receipts  or  making  any  taking  any  receipts  or 
making  any  entries  on  books.  One  day  Mr.  Lincoln  received 


108  Abraham  Lincoln 


$5,000  as  a  fee  in  a  railroad  case.  He  came  in  and  said,  'Well, 
Billy,  here  is  our  fee,  sit  down  and  let  me  divide/  He  counted 
out  $2,500  to  his  partner  and  gave  it  to  him  with  as  much 
nonchalance  as  he  would  have  given  a  few  cents  for  a  paper. 
Cupidity  had  no  abiding  place  in  his  nature." 

It  is  pleasant  to  linger  over  these  few  years  of  Lincoln's  life 
when  he  was  free  to  indulge  his  fondness  for  the  companion- 
ship of  his  associates  and  expend  his  inexhaustible  fund  of 
good  humor  to  soften  the  asperities  of  existence  or  condole 
the  sorrows  of  any  man  who,  in  any  walk  of  life,  seemed  to  be 
in  need  of  sympathy  or  cheer.  It  was  a  season  of  meditation 
during  which  he  browsed  in  the  fields  of  experience,  his  own 
and  others,  while  he  uttered  longings  and  desires  of  the 
human  heart,  got  first  hand  from  sympathy  with  nature.  He 
read  Shakespeare,  Byron,  Burns,  the  Bible,  measuring  his 
thoughts  with  theirs,  and  storing  up  without  effort  striking 
figures  and  metaphors  whenever  he  found  that  they  squared 
with  his  own  study  of  the  problems  of  human  endeavor.  He 
liked  poems  that  had  the  complexion  of  melancholy  wedded 
to  the  subtle  charm  of  recollection.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes' 
"Last  Leaf"  appealed  to  him,  especially  the  stanza  begin- 
ning: "And  the  mossy  marble  rests."  It  was  during  this  period 
that  his  law  partner  became  possessed  of  one  of  the  first  edi- 
tions of  Walt  Whitman's  "Leaves  of  Grass"  Something  in  the 
connection  of  these  two  great  souls,  so  universally  sympathe- 
tic of  humanity  and  so  prophetic  of  universal  democracy,  lies 
deeper  than  our  philosophy. 

Rankin  described  Lincoln's  introduction  to  the  "Good 
Gray  Poet's"  poems,  as  follows:  "When  Walt  Whitman's 
"Leaves  of  Grass"  was  first  published  in  1855,  it  was  placed 
on  the  office  table  of  Herndon.  It  had  been  read  by  several  of 
us  and  one  day  discussions  hot  and  extreme  had  sprung  up 


Apostle  of  Democracy  109 

between  office  students  and  Mr.  Herndon  concerning  its 
poetic  merit,  in  which  Dr.  Bateman  engaged  with  us,  having 
entered  from  his  adjoining  office.  Later,  quite  a  surprise  oc- 
curred when  we  found  that  the  Whitman  poetry  and  our  dis- 
cussions had  been  engaging  Lincoln's  silent  attention.  After 
the  rest  of  us  had  finished  our  criticism  of  some  peculiar 
verses  and  of  Whitman  in  general,  as  well  as  of  each  other's 
literary  taste  and  morals  in  particular,  and  had  resumed  our 
usual  duties  or  had  departed,  Lincoln,  who  during  the  criti- 
cism had  been  apparently  in  the  unapproachable  depths  of 
one  of  his  glum  moods  of  meditative  silence,  took  up  ''Leaves 
of  Grass1  for  his  first  reading  of  it.  After  half  an  hour  or  more 
devoted  to  it  he  turned  back  to  the  first  pages  and,  to  our 
general  surprise,  began  to  read  aloud.  Other  office  work  was 
discontinued  by  us  all  when  he  read  with  sympathetic  em- 
phasis verse  after  verse.  His  rendering  revealed  a  charm  of 
new  life  in  Whitman's  versification.  Save  for  a  few  comments 
on  some  broad  allusions  that  Lincoln  suggested  could  have 
been  veiled,  or  left  out,  he  commended  the  new  poet's  verses 
for  their  virility,  freshness,  unconventional  sentiments,  and 
unique  forms  of  expression,  and  claimed  that  Whitman  gave 
promise  of  a  new  school  of  poetry." 

Some  years  later  William  Douglas  O'Connor,  then  a  young 
journalist  in  Washington  but  later  author  of  a  masterly 
defense  of  Whitman  and  a  scorching  rebuke  to  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  Harlan  for  discharging  Whitman  from  office  on 
account  of  his  poems,  records  the  following  incident: 

"I  treasure  to  my  latest  hour,"  he  writes,  "with  swelling 
heart  and  springing  tears,  the  remembrance  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln seeing  him  (Whitman)  for  the  first  time  from  the  window 
of  the  East  Room  of  the  White  House  as  he  passed  slowly  by, 
and  gazing  at  him  long  with  that  deep  eye  which  read  men, 


no  Abraham  Lincoln 


saying  in  the  quaint  sweet  tone  which  those  who  have  spoken 
with  him  will  remember,  and  with  a  significant  emphasis 
which  type  can  hardly  convey, '  Well,  be  looks  like  a  MAN. ' " 

Lincoln  ministering  in  the  White  House  to  the  wounds  of  a 
Nation  battling  for  its  life,  and  Whitman  in  the  camps  and 
hospitals  about  Washington  devoting  his  heart  and  soul  to 
the  wounded  of  our  armies — two  supremely  lovely  souls,  on 
their  journey  toward  their  destined  goal!  What  further. 
Listen  to  O'Connor  again  in  his  estimate  of  Whitman's 
poetry: 

"I  know  of  nothing  superior  to  'Bivouac's  Fitful  Flame / 
'Asbes  of  Soldiers /  the  '  Spirit  wbose  Work  Is  Done,  the  pre- 
lude to  'Brum  'Taps,9  that  most  mournful  and  noble  of  all 
love  songs,  '  Out  of  tbe  Rolling  Ocean  Tbe  Crowd,'  or  '  Out  Of 
Tbe  Cradle  Endlessly  Rocking]  '  Elemental  Drifts ,'  the  entire 
section  entitled,  'Song  of  Myself,  the  hymn  commencing 
*  Splendor  of  Falling  Day,'  or  the  great  salute  to  the  French 
Revolution  of  '93  entitled,  'France'  And  if  all  these  were 
wanting  there  is  a  poem  in  the  volume  which,  if  the  author 
had  never  written  another  line,  would  be  sufficient  to  place 
him  among  the  chief  poets  of  the  world.  I  do  not  refer  to 
'  Cbanting  Tbe  Square  Deifc,'  though  that  also  would  be  suf- 
ficient in  its  incomparable  breadth  and  grandeur  of  concep- 
tion and  execution  to  establish  the  highest  poetic  reputation, 
but  the  strain  commemorating  the  death  of  the  beloved  Presi- 
dent, commencing,  'When  lilacs  last  in  the  dooryard 
bloomed/  a  poem  whose  rich  and  sacred  beauty  and  rapture 
of  tender  religious  passion,  spreading  aloft  into  the  sublime, 
leave  it  unique  and  solitary  in  literature,  and  will  make  it  the 
chosen  and  immortal  hymn  of  Death  forever.  Emperors 
might  elect  to  die  could  their  memories  be  surrounded  with 
such  a  Requiem,  which,  next  to  the  grief  and  love  of  the 


Apostle  of  Democracy  ill 

people,  is  the  grandest  and  only  grand  funeral  music  poured 
around  Lincoln's  bier.,, 

Shall  we  leave  to  chance  Lincoln's  recognition  of  Whitman 
as  a  great  poet  when  all  the  world  was  deriding  him? — to 
chance  the  passing  of  Whitman  before  the  President  who 
recognized  instantly  his  individual  nobility? — to  chance  the 
sacrifices  both  made  for  humanity  and  in  the  name  of  the 
Union? — to  chance  the  preparation  of  Whitman  through 
those  four  years  of  woeful  experience  among  the  wounded, 
the  maimed,  the  dying,  that  he  might  have  his  soul  attuned 
to  that  wonderful  chant  of  Death?  Was  it  chance  that  gave 
to  those  terrific  years  those  two  men  pre-visioning  universal 
democracy;  to  one  of  them  to  establish  it  and  give  his  life  for 
it,  and  to  the  other  to  live  to  sing  the  Apocalypse  of  the  Re- 
ligion of  Democracy  in  his  perfected  "Leaves  of  Grass"?  If 
this  be  so,  then  we  may  cast  to  the  winds  our  system  of  logic 
as  well  as  our  faith  in  a  Creator  Whose  Intelligence  marshals 
the  hosts  of  heaven  and  marks  the  fall  of  the  sparrow. 

Search  through  all  the  world  and  the  histories  of  it  and 
there  will  be  found  no  other  two  men  beside  whom  these  two 
are  not  worthy  to  stand.  Standing  side  by  side  there  is  no  dis- 
paraging thought.  They  are  Democracy. 


Chapter  XI 

THE  HOUSE   DIVIDED 


tjk  HOUSE  divided  against  itself!  People  saw  it  now  for 

lj\  the  first  time.  Yet  it  was  no  new  thing.  It  had  been  in 
1  jJ^L-the  Constitution  from  the  first.  A  declaration  of  prin- 
ciples had  been  promulgated  that  pronounced  all  men  to  be 
born  free,  and  yet  later  the  same  Constitution  had  accepted  a 
proviso  that  allowed  some  men  to  be  chattels.  It  had  given 
legal  sanction  to  ownership  in  men  in  one  part  of  the  Union 
and  had  prohibited  it  in  another.  It  had  put  a  ban  on  the  im- 
portation of  men  from  a  foreign  country  to  be  sold  as  slaves, 
but  had  not  made  the  sale  of  slaves  born  within  the  states 
illegal. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention,  it  was  the  plan  that 
New  England  was  to  let  slavery  alone,  and  we  must  remem- 
ber that  it  was  Mason  of  Virginia  who  was  so  enraged  and  so 
opposed  to  slavery,  that  he  arose  and  delivered  one  of  the 
most  significant  speeches  heard  in  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention— the  more  significant  coming  from  a  delegate  from  a 
state  owning  more  than  a  third  of  all  the  slaves  in  the  United 
States.  Mason  exclaimed: 

"This  infernal  traffic  originated  in  the  avarice  of  British 
merchants.  The  British  Government  constantly  checked  the 
attempts  of  Virginia  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  The  present  question 
concerns  not  the  importing  states,  but  the  whole  Union  *  *  * 


The  House  Divided  113 

Slavery  discourages  arts  and  manufactures.  The  poor  despise 
labor  when  performed  by  slaves.  They  prevent  the  immigra- 
tion of  Whites,  who  really  enrich  and  strengthen  a  country. 
They  produce  the  most  pernicious  effects  upon  manners. 
Every  master  of  slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.  They  bring  the 
judgment  of  Heaven  upon  a  country.  As  nations  cannot  be 
rewarded  or  punished  in  the  next  world,  they  must  be  in  this. 
By  an  inevitable  chain  of  causes  and  effects,  Providence 
punishes  national  sins  by  national  calamities. " 

But  a  warning  of  awful  calamity  to  come  was  not  so  effec- 
tive with  the  majority,  as  was  the  desire  to  frame  an  instru- 
ment competent  to  establish  a  National  Government — and 
which  could  be  ratified.  The  compromise  was  completed  by 
extending  the  slave  importation  period  to  twenty  years,  and 
placing  a  head  tax  on  all  slaves  imported — and  Mason  refused 
to  sign  the  Constitution. 

The  Union  indivisible  hid  the  seed  of  divisibility  in  its 
original  organism.  The  house  was  divided  against  itself  pri- 
marily before  the  architects  had  finished  drawing  the  plans. 
The  unforgivable  sin  had  its  roots  in  the  birth  of  the  nation. 
The  clear-eyed  fathers  of  the  Republic  saw  this  plainly 
enough  and  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  a  democracy 
founded  on  the  primal  law  of  God,  a  free  man,  yet  retaining 
in  its  Constitution  an  acceptance  of  a  condition  which  al- 
lowed one  man  to  bind  another  after  his  own  ideas  of  truth 
and  justice,  unsupported  by,  and  contrary  to,  the  "Declara- 
tion" that  "all  men  are  created  equal"  under  the  benignant 
smile  of  Life,  which  presupposed  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  But  they  also  shrank  with  horror  at  the  prospect 
of  Colonial  anarchy.  Better  a  Union  with  one  flaw  in  its  Con- 
stitution than  no  Union  with  all  its  attendant  evils.  They 
acknowledged  the  conditions  which  they  could  not  square 


114  Abraham  Lincoln 


with  that  ideal  of  perfection  conceived  by  their  genius,  and 
so  accepted  the  Garden  of  Eden,  serpent  and  all. 

Out  of  this  small  dark  serpent  whose  narrow  track  was 
hardly  observable  in  the  profuse  vegetation  of  the  promises 
of  that  hour,  grew  the  monster  that  was  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  generation  threatening  to  dismember  the  Union 
or  swallow  it  entirely. 

Truth  compels  the  admission  that  it  was  the  growth  of 
slavery  and  the  arrogance  of  its  demands  that  caused  the 
widest  protest  against  it.  Not  the  love  of  virtue  but  the  sense 
of  fear  made  it  apparent  to  the  Nation  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  wrong.  A  few  great  souls  inspired  by  a  love  of 
truth  and  a  sympathy  for  the  oppressed  were  willing  to  tear 
up  the  bond  that  had  given  security  to  the  Shylock  monster 
in  his  demand  for  a  pound  of  flesh,  to  risk  a  desecration  of  the 
Constitution  rather  than  to  agree  to  its  provisions,  which 
allowed  the  continuance  of  slavery,  but  not  its  extension 
within,  nor  the  prosecution  of  the  slave  trade  outside  its 
borders.  These  were  the  original  Abolitionists  whose  names 
are  now  starred  in  the  skies  of  human  progress,  never  to  fade 
or  to  be  effaced  while  men  have  power  to  lift  their  eyes  to 
higher  things.  But  the  growing  spirit  of  material  prosperity, 
and  the  many  and  tremendous  questions  born  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  and  demanding  immediate  consideration, 
overshadowed  the  slave  question  in  the  general  mind.  Had 
the  slave  states  been  content  with  the  advantages  given  them 
by  the  Constitution  and  made  no  demands  for  wider  terri- 
tory, it  is  a  matter  of  speculation  whether  the  National  con- 
science would  even  to  this  day  have  demanded  its  abolition. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  first  to  reveal  the  National  mind 
to  itself.  To  hold  the  mirror  up  to  it  that  it  might  know  itself. 

"The  house  is  divided,"  he  said. 


The  House  Divided  115 

"Oh  no,"  they  cried,  "it  is  not  so!  And  if  it  is,  to  suggest 
such  a  thing  is  only  to  increase  the  passions." 

Lincoln  persisted,  not  only  that  the  house  was  divided,  but 
that  it  could  not  continue  permanently  in  that  way.  One 
division  would  swallow  up  the  other.  Either  the  Nation 
would  be  all  slave  or  all  free. 

It  seems  incredible  in  the  light  of  the  present,  that  in  1854, 
when  Lincoln  first  gave  utterance  to  the  "divided  house" 
prophecy,  there  was  no  one  of  all  his  associates  but  warned 
him  against  its  use.  So  simple  a  truth  applied  with  such  pre- 
cision and  simplicity  to  the  situation,  one  might  think, 
would  have  been  universally  accepted  on  both  sides  of  the 
controversy.  Certainly  those  who  were  opposed  to  slavery 
extension  should  have  grasped  it,  and  used  it  in  the  widest 
possible  way.  But  even  the  Free  Soilers  and  the  Whigs  were 
afraid  of  the  statement.  It  was  applying  the  knife  directly  to 
the  sore  and  they  feared  the  surgeon's  remedy  more  than  they 
feared  the  disease.  Or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Abolitionists,  they 
were  willing  to  cut  out  the  diseased  portion  even  if  it  took  the 
heart  of  the  Constitution  with  it. 

So  Lincoln  stood  alone,  the  one  steady  glowing  fire  among 
all  the  fitful  conflagrations  of  those  rebellious  years.  In  his 
earliest  utterances  he  logically  (as  well  as  humanely  and 
divinely)  freed  the  Negro  by  refusing  to  discuss  him  as  a 
chattel  and  always  referring  to  him  as  a  man.  Either  a 
Negro  was  an  animal,  he  argued,  in  which  case  there  was  no 
suggestion  of  slavery;  or  he  was  a  man,  in  which  case  the 
question  of  the  right  to  enslave  him  was  equally  illogical  and 
absurd.  He  stripped  the  White  Man  and  the  Black  Man  and 
stood  them  up  before  the  world  demanding  judgment  on  his 
primal  principle  of  creation.  From  this  standpoint  he  argued 
that  for  one  of  those  men  to  enslave  the  other  was  equally 


116  Abraham  Lincoln 


degrading  to  both.  He  forced  the  slave  question  from  sophis- 
tical refinement  into  the  open;  from  its  platform  of  property- 
rights  and  climatic  conditions;  from  its  demands  for  effi- 
ciency in  production,  and  from  its  sentimental  expressions, — 
on  one  side  the  affection  existing  between  the  planter's 
family  and  the  slaves,  on  the  other  the  brutal  and  fiendish 
acts  growing  out  of  a  condition  which  placed  one  human 
being  an  absolute  monarch  over  another  with  the  blacksnake 
as  the  final  court  of  appeal. 

It  was  this  universal  wisdom  which  made  Lincoln  the 
greatest  figure  of  his  time.  It  was  this  universal  wisdom  which 
so  fortified  his  soul  that  when  he  came  to  lock  himself  in  that 
little  bare  room  over  a  grocery  store  in  Springfield  to  compose 
his  first  Inaugural,  he  confined  his  selection  from  a  list  of 
books  and  authorities  given  him  by  Herndon,  to  Henry 
Clay's  great  Speech  delivered  in  1850,  Andrew  Jackson's 
Proclamation  against  Nullification,  a  copy  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  Webster's  Reply  to  Hayne.  It  is  this  universal  wis- 
dom that  makes  his  utterances  as  vital  when  applied  to  the 
present  social  and  political  questions  as  they  were  when 
applied  to  the  conditions,  but  with  other  phenomena  as  the 
result,  during  his  lifetime. 

The  destiny  that  supplied  Lincoln  with  antagonists  at 
every  stage  of  his  career  who  should  call  forth  his  best 
efforts,  physical  or  mental,  brought  into  the  same  arena  the 
"Little  Giant,"  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Enthusiastic  adherents 
of  opposing  parties,  they  were,  for  two  decades  or  more, 
either  actively  opposed  or  silently  watching  and  studying 
each  other  for  the  time  that  each  felt  sure  would  again  bring 
them  face  to  face,  pleading  for  public  favor.  The  two  met 
first  in  the  Illinois  Legislature  in  1834  when  Lincoln,  looking 
down  upon  the  then  youthful  Douglas  from  his  extreme 


The  House  Divided  117 

height,  said  whimsically,  "He  is  the  least  man  I  have  ever 
seen." 

But  Douglas  gave  Lincoln  more  trouble  than  all  the  other 
men  who  ever  opposed  him  put  together.  From  the  first 
Douglas'  advancement  was  continual  and  rapid.  He  became 
successively  State's  Attorney,  Member  of  the  Illinois  Legis- 
lature, Registrar  of  the  Land  Office  at  Springfield,  Secretary 
of  State  for  Illinois,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that 
State,  Member  of  Congress  and  United  States  Senator. 

Lincoln  during  the  same  period  had  the  comparatively 
meager  glory  of  four  terms  in  the  State  Legislature  and  one  in 
the  Lower  House  of  Congress.  Douglas  became  the  Head  and 
Front  of  the  National  Democratic  Party;  Lincoln  went  down 
with  the  Whigs,  with  the  defeat  of  Henry  Clay,  and  found 
his  final  political  home  in  the  Republican  Party  when  it  was, 
as  he  had  said  of  Douglas,  about  the  least  Party  one  could 
imagine.  The  political  careers  of  these  two  men  started  at 
about  the  same  time  and  place.  When  Lincoln  entered  upon 
his  first  term  in  the  Illinois  Assembly  at  Vandalia,  he  met  in 
the  lobby  the  shrewd  little  Vermonter,  four  years  his  junior, 
who,  notwithstanding  his  extreme  youth  and  briefness  of 
residence  in  the  West,  was  conducting  among  the  members  of 
the  Legislature  what  proved  to  be  a  successful  canvass  for  the 
office  of  State's  Attorney  for  the  First  Judicial  District.  He 
became  as  pronounced  in  his  Democracy  as  Lincoln  was  in 
his  Whigism.  On  opposite  sides  in  the  next  Assembly,  both 
having  been  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1836,  they  clashed 
from  time  to  time  in  debate.  The  antagonism  thus  started  at 
Vandalia  was  transferred  to  Springfield,  where  within  a  few 
months  of  each  other,  the  young  men  took  up  their  residence. 

No  two  men  could  have  been  more  utterly  unlike  in  char- 
acter. Lincoln  was  a  worshiper  of  truth,  Douglas  delighted 


118  Abraham  Lincoln 


in  sophistry.  Lincoln  revelled  in  the  humor  of  a  situation; 
Douglas  looked  with  absolute  dislike  upon  any  show  of 
animal  spirits.  Lincoln  was  plain,  awkward,  homely;  Douglas 
was  smooth,  urbane,  polite,  dignified.  Both  were  men  of 
superior  endowments  but  cast  in  such  different  moulds  that 
they  found  it  impossible  to  be  on  the  same  side  of  any  propo- 
sition. Douglas  respected  Lincoln's  powers  while  he  pre- 
tended to  ignore  them.  Lincoln  gave  equal  respect  to  his 
rival's  talents  but,  instead  of  ignoring  them,  acknowledged 
them,  made  a  study  of  them,  and  when  the  final  test  and  the 
supreme  struggle  came,  he  knew  his  man  so  well  that  he  was 
able  to  press  his  antagonist  to  the  verge  of  defeat,  at  the 
moment,  and  place  him  in  a  position  before  the  country 
which  lost  him  the  prestige  won  through  long  years  of  bril- 
liant achievement,  and  sent  him  two  years  later  to  the 
grave,  a  broken  hearted  man. 

Lincoln  and  Douglas  had  many  debates  during  the  years 
following  their  first  contest  in  1837.  They  both  stumped  the 
State  during  the  campaign  that  followed.  Lincoln  lost  no  op- 
portunity of  speaking  from  the  same  platform  with  Douglas. 
In  one  of  these  debates,  Lincoln  charged  Van  Buren  with 
having  voted  at  the  New  York  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1 821  for  Negro  suffrage  with  a  property  qualification.  Doug- 
las challenged  the  statement,  whereupon  Lincoln  drew  out 
Holland's  "Life  of  Van  Buren"  and  proved  it.  Douglas, 
cornered,  and  in  a  sudden  fit  of  anger,  snatched  the  volume 
from  Lincoln's  hand  and  exclaiming,  "Damn  such  a  book!" 
hurled  it  into  the  audience. 

But  Douglas  had  a  following  in  the  State  which  gradually 
extended  to  the  Nation,  until  he  was  the  general  choice  of  the 
"Young  Democrats"  everywhere  for  the  Presidency.  He 
looked  to  the  Southern  States  to  complete  that  ambition.  The 


The  House  Divided  119 

House  was  divided,  but  he  did  not  see  it.  He  saw  the  sectional 
differences  but  shrewdly  figured  that  the  people  both  North 
and  South  would  welcome  the  man  who  should  be  able  to 
compromise  differences  and  prevent  any  open  outbreak. 

"Not  only,"  says  Alonzo  Arnold  in  his  wonderful  book 
"Lincoln,  Master  of  Men,"  "did  he  support  the  so-called 
Compromise  of  1850,  but  he  had,  at  the  same  time,  solemnly 
reaffirmed  the  great  Missouri  Compromise  itself.  'It  had  its 
origin/  Douglas  said,  'in  the  hearts  of  all  patriotic  men  who 
desired  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  blessings  of  our  glor- 
ious Union — an  origin  akin  to  that  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  conceived  in  the  same  spirit  of  fraternal  affec- 
tion, and  calculated  to  remove  forever  the  danger  which 
seemed  to  threaten,  at  some  distant  day,  to  sever  the  social 
bond  of  union.  All  the  evidences  of  public  opinion,  at  that 
day,  seemed  to  indicate  that  this  compromise  had  been  can- 
onized in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people,  as  a  sacred  thing 
which  no  hand  would  ever  be  reckless  enough  to  disturb.,,, 

A  few  years  later  Douglas,  himself,  was  guilty  of  that  sac- 
rilege. When  the  slave  states  had  got  from  the  Compromise 
all  the  advantages  and  benefits  allotted  to  them  in  the  com- 
pact, they  struck  forth  swiftly  at  the  compact  itself,  and 
Douglas,  unable  to  face  the  difficulty  of  his  position  without 
surrender,  obeyed  the  mandate  of  the  controlling  minds  of 
his  Party.  He  responded  to  their  demands  to  prove  his  faith- 
fulness to  them  by  presenting  his  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  with 
its  fateful  amendment  which  declared  the  slavery  restrictions 
of  the  Compromise  "Inoperative  and  void." 

The  spirit  of  this  bill,  which  annulled  the  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution which  prohibited  the  extension  of  slavery  into  any 
of  the  Territories  of  the  Union,  aroused  Lincoln  as  nothing 
before  had  done.  He  saw  in  it  a  menace  to  every  state  in  the 


120  Abraham  Lincoln 

Union.  He  raised  his  voice  in  strenuous  opposition.  Douglas 
felt  the  hot  wave  of  indignation  sweeping  up  from  the  people, 
and,  taking  advantage  of  the  State  and  Congressional  elec- 
tion, hurried  home  and  threw  himself  into  the  campaign  with 
all  his  fire  and  vigor.  He  spoke  first  at  Chicago  where  Lincoln 
heard  him.  Next  he  appeared  at  Springfield  where  the  State 
Agricultural  Fair  was  being  held.  His  speech  on  this  occasion, 
like  most  of  his  utterances,  was  specious  but  attractive.  A 
tremendous  audience  heard  him  and  there  were  evidences  of 
great  sympathy  for  the  speaker  and  his  new  doctrine  of 
"squatter  sovereignty."  He  must  be  answered. 

The  Anti-Nebraska  elements,  as  if  by  common  consent, 
assigned  the  task  to  his  old  antagonist,  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Douglas  seems  to  have  been  informed  of  this  fact  before  he 
had  spoken.  With  his  opening  remarks  the  Senator  said:  "I 
will  mention  that  it  is  understood  by  some  gentlemen  that 
Mr.  Lincoln,  of  this  city,  is  expected  to  answer  me.  If  this  is 
the  understanding,  I  wish  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  step  for- 
ward and  let  us  arrange  some  plan  upon  which  to  carry  out 
this  discussion." 

Mr.  Lincoln,  not  being  present,  did  not  respond  at  the 
time.  But  on  the  following  day,  in  the  same  place  and  before 
an  equally  large  assembly,  he  replied  to  Senator  Douglas  in  a 
well  considered  argument  and  with  such  clear  reasoning  and 
logic  as  to  arouse  the  utmost  enthusiasm  among  his  support- 
ers. With  a  single  stroke  of  genius  he  cut  his  way  direct  to  the 
heart  of  the  question,  and  laid  bare  the  sophistry  of  the  Sena- 
tors opposition.  His  speech  was  of  such  a  high  order  that  it 
evoked  the  praise  of  even  the  supporters  of  Douglas.  The 
Senator  was  so  thoroughly  unhorsed  that  he  could  not  con- 
tain himself  and  made  frequent  interruptions  which  in  no 
way  disconcerted  Mr.  Lincoln  who  closed  his  argument  with 
great  simplicity  and  dignity. 


The  House  Divided  121 

Douglas  was  to  have  two  hours  before  supper  time  to  reply 
but  these  were  used  to  so  little  purpose  that  he  closed  with  a 
promise  to  resume  in  the  evening.  The  audience  again  as- 
sembled but  the  "Little  Giant"  failed  to  appear.  Neither  did 
he  give  any  explanation  at  that  time  or  later  for  his  failure  to 
conclude  his  reply.  Lincoln  had  won  the  first  round  in  a 
match  that  was  to  continue  not  only  through  this  canvass 
but  in  succeeding  ones  when  the  prize  at  stake  would  be  im- 
measurably greater,  when  the  audience  instead  of  local  would 
be  a  national,  and  when  the  whole  country  would  devour 
their  words  and  decide  from  them  one  of  the  most  momen- 
tous questions  of  the  ages. 

Mr.  Herndon,  who  was  present  when  Lincoln  delivered 
this  speech,  was  greatly  moved  by  it.  He  reports  that  Lincoln 
had  told  him  previously  in  their  office  conversations,  that  the 
time  was  fast  approaching  when  the  social  and  political  dif- 
ferences between  freedom  and  slavery  must  be  settled. 

"One  must  overcome  the  other;  postponing  the  struggle 
between  them  will  only  make  it  the  more  deadly  in  the  end. 
The  day  of  compromise  has  passed."  Lincoln  had  said  to  him. 
"These  two  great  ideas  have  been  kept  apart  by  the  most  art- 
ful means.  They  are  like  two  wild  beasts  in  sight  of  each 
other,  but  chained  and  held  apart.  Some  day  these  deadly 
antagonists  will  one  or  the  other  break  its  bonds  and  then  the 
question  will  be  settled." 

Slavery,  he  maintained,  was  a  great  and  crying  injustice, 
an  enormous  National  crime.  He  made  the  observation  that 
it  was  "singular  that  the  courts  would  hold  that  a  man  never 
lost  his  right  to  his  property  that  had  been  stolen  from  him, 
but  that  he  instantly  lost  his  right  to  himself  if  he  was  stolen." 

"The  Anti-Nebraska  Speech  made  at  this  time  in  reply  to 
Douglas,"  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  at  the  time,  "was  the  pro- 


122  Abraham  Lincoln 


foundest  in  our  opinion  that  Lincoln  has  made  in  his  whole 
life.  He  felt  upon  his  soul  the  truths  burn  which  he  uttered, 
and  all  present  felt  that  he  was  true  to  his  own  soul.  His  feel- 
ings once  or  twice  swelled  within,  and  came  near  to  stifling 
his  utterance.  He  quivered  with  emotion.  The  whole  house 
was  still  as  death.  Fie  attacked  the  Nebraska  Bill  with  un- 
usual warmth  and  energy;  and  all  felt  that  a  man  of  strength 
was  its  enemy  and  that  he  intended  to  blast  it  if  he  could  by 
strong,  manly  efforts.  He  was  most  successful,  and  the  house 
approved  the  glorious  triumph  of  truth  by  loud  and  con- 
tinued huzzas.  Douglas  felt  the  sting;  the  animal  within  him 
was  aroused,  he  frequently  interrupted  Mr.  Lincoln.  His 
friends  felt  that  he  was  crushed  by  Lincoln's  powerful  argu- 
ment, manly  logic,  and  illustrations  from  nature  around  us." 

In  Mr.  Herndon's  estimate  of  this  great  speech  in  which 
Lincoln  took  his  "first  step  forward"  in  those  seven-league 
boots  he  had  drawn  on  to  pursue  Douglas,  the  speech  which 
he  dramatically  made  in  response  to  the  challenge  of  the 
"Little  Giant,"  Lincoln  discovered  himself  to  a  wider  field 
than  he  had  yet  known. 

Horace  White,  political  editor  of  the  Chicago  Evening 
Journal  at  the  time  and  afterwards  representative  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune  in  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates,  gives  a 
graphic  account  of  the  impression  made  upon  him  by  this 
address.  Writing  several  years  later,  he  says: 

"I  occupied  a  front  seat  in  the  Representatives'  Hall  in  the 
old  State  House  when  Lincoln  began  to  speak.  The  impres- 
sion made  upon  me  by  the  orator  was  quite  overpowering. 
I  had  not  heard  much  political  speaking  up  to  that  time.  I 
have  never  heard  anything  since,  either  by  Mr.  Lincoln  or  by 
anybody,  that  I  would  put  on  a  higher  plane  of  oratory.  All 
the  strings  that  play  upon  the  human  heart  and  understand- 


The  /louse  Divided  123 

ing  were  touched  with  masterly  skill  and  force,  while  beyond 
and  above  all  skill  was  the  overwhelming  conviction  pressed 
upon  the  audience  that  the  speaker  himself  was  charged  with 
an  irresistible  and  inspiring  duty  to  his  fellowmen.  This  con- 
scientious impulse  drove  his  arguments  through  the  heads  of 
his  hearers  down  to  their  bosoms,  where  they  made  everlast- 
ing lodgment.  I  had  been  nurtured  in  the  Abolitionist  faith 
and  was  much  more  radical  than  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  on  any 
point  where  slavery  was  concerned,  yet  it  seemed  to  me,  when 
this  speech  was  finished,  as  though  I  had  had  a  very  feeble 
conception  of  the  wickedness  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill. 
I  was  filled,  as  never  before,  with  the  sense  of  my  own  duty 
and  responsibility  as  a  citizen  toward  the  aggressions  of  the 
slave  power." 

At  Peoria  a  few  days  later,  Lincoln  and  Douglas  met  again 
and  spoke  from  the  same  platform.  Again  Lincoln  shattered 
his  opponents  armor  and  to  such  a  degree  that  Douglas  pro- 
posed a  cessation  of  hostilities  and  that  they  should  both  go 
home  and  speak  no  more  during  the  campaign.  Lincoln 
agreed  and  returned  to  Springfield,  but  Douglas  on  his  way 
to  Chicago  stopped  at  Princeton  and  violated  the  agreement. 
Lincoln  put  another  mark  against  the  trustworthiness  of 
Douglas.  He  was  getting  the  accurate  measure  of  the  man 
from  whom,  he  already  saw,  the  Nation  had  most  to  fear. 
Douglas  was  powerful  in  argument,  the  best  debater  in  the 
Senate,  and,  as  Lincoln  discerned,  was  ready  to  admit 
slavery  anywhere  if  by  so  doing  he  could  gain  the  Presidency. 

And  Lincoln  knew  that  he  alone  was  prepared  to  check  the 
redoubtable  Douglas  in  his  ambitious  schemes. 

During  those  hours  of  withdrawal  from  the  world  when 
Lincoln  was  fathoms  deep  in  speculation,  a  mood  on  which 
none  of  his  most  intimate  friends  had  the  courage  to  intrude, 


124  Abraham  Lincoln 

did  he  dream  of  himself  taking  the  exalted  place  Douglas  had 
marked  as  his  own  goal?  Did  he  sense  his  destiny?  Were  the 
future  woes  of  the  Nation  revealed  to  him  ?  Was  he  already  in 
conscious  pre-vision  bearing  those  burdens?  Who  shall  say? 
Whatever  he  may  have  believed  or  dreamed,  he  kept  his  own 
counsel.  But  he  never  took  his  eyes  from  Douglas  nor  allowed 
to  slip  an  opportunity  to  oppose  him.  Instead  of  attacking 
the  Democratic  Party  for  the  unholy  attempts  to  push  slav- 
ery into  the  Territories,  he  rightly  placed  it  at  the  door  of 
Douglas. 

It  is  difficult  at  this  late  day  to  realize  the  public  state  of 
mind  in  1856-58.  For  the  first  time  the  terrible  problem  of 
slavery,  long  the  secret  haunt,  became  the  open  battlefield 
of  American  politics.  In  place  of  the  delicate  silence,  usually 
enforced  by  the  code  of  democratic  politeness  toward  the 
"peculiar  institution,"  the  journals,  the  stumps,  exhausted 
the  resources  of  political  eloquence  in  its  attack  and  defence. 
The  halls  of  Congress  rang  with  it.  The  desecration  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  the  Ne- 
braska Bill,  the  election  of  Van  Buren,  made  the  South  arro- 
gant. Putting  aside  fear,  they  leaped  to  assurance.  They 
exchanged  their  dumb  feint  for  loud  audacity.  Instead  of 
attempting  to  stop  the  mouth  of  New  England,  the  South 
preferred  to  speak  out  for  itself  and  to  cane  the  barehead  of 
senatorial  reply.  The  debate  in  Congress  had  arisen,  not  in 
concession  to  Northern  rights,  but  in  the  service  of  Southern 
treachery  and  aggression — to  legalize  a  breach  of  public  faith 
and  to  force  the  stipulated  limits  of  slavery.  Steadily  the  en- 
croachments on  the  Constitution  had  been  made. 

The  original  ordinance  of  Congress,  "For  the  government 
of  the  Territory  of  the  United  States  Northwest  of  the  Ohio," 
closed  with  the  "Unalterable  Article": 


The  House  Divided  125 

"There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  the  said  Territory,  otherwise  than  in  punishment  of  crimes 
whereof  the  parties  shall  be  duly  convicted." 

This  article  had  been  displaced  by  the  Compromise  of  1820 
when  all  the  country  "which  lies  north  of  36-30  North  Lati- 
tude, excepting  only  such  parts  thereof  as  is  included  within 
the  limits  of  the  state  contemplated  by  this  Act,"  was  pro- 
scribed to  slavery,  which  left  all  the  territories  and  new  states 
carved  out  of  the  acquisition  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico  to  be 
cultivated  by  slave  labor.  The  Nebraska  Bill  gave  the  people 
of  a  territory  freedom  to  decide  whether  they  should  enter 
the  Union  as  a  free  or  a  slave  state,  no  matter  whether  north 
of  the  prescribed  line  or  not.  Then  came  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision  in  which  the  Supreme  Court  made  it  legal  for  an 
owner  of  a  slave  state  to  take  his  slave  into  a  free  state  and 
hold  him  there  as  his  property.  This  brought  about  the  "In- 
vasion of  Kansas"  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Bloody  Kansas. 

Douglas  was  the  champion  of  all  these  measures,  a  victim 
to  the  blindness  of  ambition  which  has  wrecked  the  fortunes 
and  blemished  the  fame  of  greater  Americans  than  he.  And 
because  he  was  already  a  formidable  candidate  for  the  nomi- 
nation for  President,  Lincoln  desired  his  overthrow. 

The  Republican  Organization  came  into  existence  in  Illi- 
nois as  a  Party  at  Bloomington,  May,  1856.  The  convention 
adopted  a  platform  ringing  with  strong  anti-Nebraska  senti- 
ments. "And  then  and  there,"  says  Herndon,  "gave  the 
Republican  Party  its  official  christening." 

"The  Convention  having  concluded  its  business,  Lincoln, 
in  response  to  repeated  calls,  addressed  the  delegates.  He  had 
prepared  the  speech,  prepared  it  by  two  years  of  study  and 
application  of  the  great  truths  of  existence,  for  the  saving  of 
the  Union.  Mr.  Herndon  tells  us  that,  compared  with  all  the 


126  Abraham  Lincoln 

speeches  ever  delivered  by  Lincoln,  most  of  which  he  had 
heard  and  all  of  which  he  had  read,  in  his  opinion  the  Bloom- 
ington  Speech  was  the  grand  effort  of  Lincoln's  life. 

"Heretofore/'  writes  this  biographer,  "he  simply  argued 
the  slavery  question  on  the  grounds  of  policy, — the  states- 
man's grounds — never  reaching  the  question  of  the  radical 
and  the  eternal  right.  Now  he  was  newly  baptized  and  freshly 
born;  he  had  the  fervor  of  a  new  convert;  the  smothered 
flame  broke  out;  enthusiasms  unusual  to  him  blazed  up;  his 
eyes  were  aglow  with  inspiration;  he  felt  justice;  his  heart  was 
alive  to  the  right;  his  sympathies,  remarkably  deep  for  him, 
burst  forth,  and  he  stood  before  the  throne  of  Eternal  Right. 
His  speech  was  full  of  fire  and  energy  and  force;  it  was  logic; 
it  was  pathos;  it  was  enthusiasm;  it  was  justice,  equity,  truth, 
and  right,  set  ablaze  by  the  divine  fires  of  a  soul  maddened 
by  the  wrong;  it  was  hard,  heavy,  knotty,  gnarly,  backed 
with  wrath.  I  attempted  for  about  fifteen  minutes,  as  was 
usual  with  me  then,  to  take  notes,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time 
I  threw  pen  and  paper  away  and  lived  only  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  hour.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  was  six  feet  four  inches  high 
usually,  at  Bloomington  that  day  he  was  seven  feet,  and 
inspired  at  that.  From  that  day  to  the  day  of  his  death  he 
stood  firm  for  the  right.  He  felt  his  great  cross,  had  his  great 
idea,  nursed  it,  kept  it,  taught  it  to  others,  in  his  fidelity  bore 
witness  of  it  to  his  death,  and  finally  sealed  it  with  his 
precious  blood." 

Three  steps  Lincoln  had  taken,  three  mighty  seven- 
league  steps,  by  the  side  of  Senator  Douglas,  and  already  his 
glow  of  truth  had  cast  his  tall  shadow  over  his  great  antag- 
onist. The  speech  at  Bloomington  delivered  in  May,  1856, 
had  so  conquered  the  minds  of  reporters  that  their  pencils 
rested  idly  in  their  fingers,  their  paper  lay  white  and  un- 


The  House  Divided  127 

marked  before  them.  The  experience  detailed  by  Herndon 
was  the  experience  of  all  the  newspaper  men,  even  including 
the  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Joseph  Medill,  the  fore- 
most exponent  of  the  new  Republican  ideas  in  the  West.  The 
Peoria  Speech  delivered  in  October,  1854,  had  been  the  sec- 
ond great  step  in  the  Lincoln  advance.  With  his  third  mighty- 
stride  he  placed  himself  in  the  fore  of  all  the  anti-slavery 
forces  of  the  time  and  reached  a  point  in  the  exposition  of  the 
principles  of  right  and  justice  for  all  men  which  surpassed 
his  contemporaries  and  which  not  the  greatest  of  them  was 
ever  able  to  approach. 

At  Peoria  he  had  said:  "I  particularly  object  to  the  new 
position  which  the  avowed  principle  of  this  Nebraska  law 
gives  to  slavery  in  the  body  politic.  I  object  to  it  because  it 
assumes  there  can  be  moral  right  in  the  enslaving  of  one  man 
by  another.  I  object  to  it  as  a  dangerous  dalliance  for  a  free 
people,  a  sad  evidence  that,  feeling  over-prosperity,  we  forget 
right;  that  liberty  as  a  principle  we  have  ceased  to  revere.  I 
object  to  it  because  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  eschewed  and 
rejected  it.  The  argument  of  'necessity'  was  the  only  argu- 
ment they  ever  admitted  in  favor  of  slavery,  and  so  far,  and 
so  far  only  as  it  carried  them,  did  they  ever  go.  They  found 
the  institution  existing  among  us,  which  they  could  not  help, 
and  they  cast  the  blame  on  the  British  King  for  having  per- 
mitted its  introduction.  Thus  we  see  the  plain,  unmistakable 
spirit  of  their  age  towards  slavery  was  hostile  to  the  principle 
and  tolerant  only  by  necessity.  But  now  it  is  transformed  into 
a  sacred  right  *  *  *  *  Henceforth  it  is  to  be  the  chief  jewel 
of  the  Nation — the  very  figurehead  of  the  Ship  of  State. 
Little  by  little,  but  steadily  as  man's  march  to  the  grave,  we 
have  been  giving  up  the  old  for  the  new  faith.  Near  eighty 
years  ago  we  began  by  declaring  that  all  men  are  created 


128  Abraham  Lincoln 


equal:  but  now  from  the  beginning  we  have  run  down  to  the 
other  declaration,  that  for  some  men  to  enslave  others  is  a 
sacred  right  of  self-government.  These  principles  cannot 
stand  together.  They  are  as  opposite  as  God  and  Mammon; 
and  whoever  holds  to  the  one  must  despise  the  other  *  *  * 
Our  Republican  robe  is  soiled  and  trailed  in  the  dust.  Let  us 
purify  it.  Let  us  turn  and  wash  it  white  in  the  spirit  if  not  in 
the  blood  of  the  Revolution.  Let  us  turn  slavery  from  its 
claims  of  moral  right,  back  upon  its  existing  legal  rights  and 
its  arguments  of  necessity.  Let  us  return  it  to  the  position  our 
fathers  gave  it,  and  there  let  it  rest  in  peace.  Let  us  re-adopt 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  with  it  the  practices 
and  policy  which  harmonize  with  it.  Let  North  and  South, 
let  all  Americans,  let  lovers  of  liberty  everywhere,  join  in  the 
great  and  good  work.  If  we  do  this,  we  shall  not  only  have 
saved  the  Union,  but  we  shall  have  so  saved  it  as  to  make  and 
to  keep  it  forever  worthy  of  saving." 

From  what  exalted  height  does  Lincoln  here  look  down 
upon  a  troubled  world?  There  is  in  this  utterance  the  very 
substance  of  love.  It  is  like  looking  into  the  bosom  of  a  still 
deep  lake  wherein  are  mirrored  the  beautiful  truths  of  nature. 
Nor  does  it  lack  power,  nor  yet  the  pressure  of  well-planned 
attack  by  an  invincible  force.  His  reference  to  the  stand 
taken  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  forced  Douglas  to  call 
upon  those  Fathers  to  give  evidence  in  his  behalf.  And  out  of 
that  despairing  cry  Lincoln  wove  that  masterpiece  of  histori- 
cal logic  which  distinguished  his  Cooper  Institute  Speech,  the 
fourth  great  stride  of  his  seven-league  boots,  taken  in 
response  to  the  invitation  of  Douglas  at  Springfield  in  1854, 
to  "please  step  forward." 

Three  years  and  six  months  elapsed  between  the  Peoria 
Speech  and  the  Bloomington  Speech.  What  days  of  specula- 


The  House  Divided  129 

tion,  what  nights  of  brooding  over  that  mighty  question, 
went  into  the  preparation  of  that  matchless  oration  will  never 
be  known!  Its  utterance  not  only  exposed  the  Iago-like  char- 
acter of  the  popular  Douglas,  but  it  stripped  the  clouds  from 
the  Temple  of  Liberty  and  flooded  the  whole  inner  structure 
with  light  as  from  the  Throne  of  God.  With  one  simple  refer- 
ence to  slavery  made  figurative  with  an  age-old  parable,  he 
presented  the  whole  slavery  question.  With  consummate  art 
he  marshalled  the  events  leading  up  to  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
legislation  sponsored  by  Douglas,  analyzed  its  meaning  and 
discovered  its  origin  and  progress.  Such  a  glow  shone  forth 
from  the  presentation  of  the  most  familiar  of  these  facts  that 
old  campaigners  were  swallowed  up  in  it  and  forgot  their  very 
existence.  The  keynote  of  this  speech  had  been  in  Lincoln's 
mind  for  more  than  four  years.  He  had  used  a  suggestion  of 
the  Biblical  phrase  in  earlier  efforts  but  was  persuaded  to 
withhold  the  argument  lest  it  should  wreck  the  hopes  of  his 
Party.  But  time  had  matured  the  idea.  Patiently  he  had  pon- 
dered the  declaration.  Heartfully  he  had  brooded  over  it. 
Faithfully  he  had  scanned  it.  Reverently  he  had  builded  and 
shaped  it.  Enough.  The  time  had  come.  He  thundered  it  forth 
and  the  world  trembled. 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  that 
this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently,  half  slave  and 
half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either 
the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it, 
and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will 
push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the 
states,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 


130  Abraham  Lincoln 


Silence  fell  upon  that  great  audience.  A  miracle,  the  blind 
had  eyes  and  could  see.  Before  them  yawned  the  gulf.  Their 
feet  were  upon  the  verge  of  the  awful  chasm.  A  breath  might 
precipitate  the  catastrophe.  Then  again  the  clear,  calm 
tones  of  the  speaker. 

"What  now?  Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition? 
Let  any  one  who  doubts,  carefully  contemplate  that  now 
almost  legal  combination — piece  of  machinery,  so  to  speak — 
compounded  of  the  Nebraska  doctrine  and  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision.  Let  him  consider  not  only  what  work  the  machinery 
is  adapted  to  do,  and  how  well  adapted;  but  also  let  him 
study  the  history  of  its  construction,  and  trace,  if  he  can,  or 
rather  fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of  design  and  con- 
cert of  action  among  its  chief  architects  from  the  beginning." 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  which,  every  candid  man  must  ac- 
knowledge, conferred  on  emigrants  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
the  right  to  carry  slaves  there  and  hold  them  in  bondage, 
whereas  formerly  they  had  no  such  right;  he  alluded  to  the 
events  which  followed  that  repeal,  events  in  which  Judge 
Douglas*  name  figured  prominently,  explaining  that  he  re- 
ferred to  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  and  the  extraordinary 
means  taken  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  that  decision;  the 
efforts  put  forth  by  President  Pierce  to  make  people  believe 
that,  in  the  election  of  James  Buchanan,  they  had  endorsed 
the  doctrine  that  slavery  may  exist  in  the  free  territories  of 
the  Union;  the  earnest  exhortation  put  forth  by  President 
Buchanan  to  the  people  to  stick  to  that  decision  whatever  it 
might  be;  the  close-fitting  niche  in  the  Nebraska  Bill  wherein 
the  right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves  is  made  "subject 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States";  the  extraordinary 
haste  made  by  Judge  Douglas  to  give  this  decision  an  en- 
dorsement at  the  capital  of  Illinois. 


The  House  Divided  13 1 

"Auxiliary  to  all  this,  and  working  hand  in  hand  with  it," 
continued  the  speaker,  "the  Nebraska  doctrine,  or  what  is 
left  of  it,  is  to  educate  and  mould  public  opinion,  at  least 
Northern  public  opinion,  not  to  care  whether  slavery  is  voted 
down  or  voted  up.  This  shows  exactly  where  we  now  are  and 
partially,  also,  where  we  are  tending. 

"It  will  throw  additional  light  on  the  latter  to  go  back  and 
run  the  mind  over  the  string  of  historical  facts  already  stated. 
Several  things  will  now  appear  less  dark  and  mysterious  than 
they  did  when  they  were  transpiring.  The  people  were  to  be 
left 'perfectly  free*  *  *  *  'subject  only  to  the  Constitution/ 
What  the  Constitution  had  to  do  with  it  outsiders  could  not 
then  see.  Plainly  enough  now,  it  was  an  exactly  fitted  niche 
for  the  Dred  Scott  Decision  to  afterward  come  in,  and  declare 
the  perfect  freedom  of  the  people  to  be  just  no  freedom  at  all. 
Why  was  the  amendment,  expressly  declaring  the  right  of  the 
people,  voted  down?  Plainly  enough  now,  the  adoption  of  it 
would  have  spoiled  the  niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  Decision. 
Why  was  the  court  decision  held  up?  Why  even  a  senator's 
individual  opinion  withheld  till  after  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion? Plainly  enough  now,  the  speaking  out  then  would  have 
damaged  the  'perfectly  free'  argument  upon  which  the  elec- 
tion was  to  be  carried.  Why  the  outgoing  President's  felicita- 
tion on  the  endorsement?  Why  the  delay  of  a  reargument? 
Why  the  incoming  President's  advance  exhortation  in  favor 
of  the  Decision  ?  These  things  look  like  the  cautious  patting 
and  petting  of  the  spirited  horse,  preparatory  to  mounting 
him,  when  it  is  dreaded  that  he  may  give  the  rider  a  fall.  And 
why  the  hasty  after-endorsement  of  the  Decision  by  the 
President  and  others? 

"We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adapta- 
tions are  the  result  of  pre-concert.  But  when  we  see  a  lot  of 


132  Abraham  Lincoln 


framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we  know  to  have 
been  gotten  out  at  different  times  and  places  by  different 
workmen — Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger,  and  James,  for  in- 
stance— and  we  see  these  timbers  joined  together,  and  see 
they  exactly  made  the  frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the 
tenons  and  mortises  exactly  fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and 
proportions  of  the  different  pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their 
respective  places,  and  not  a  piece  too  many  or  too  few,  not 
omitting  the  scaffolding — or  if  a  single  piece  be  lacking,  we 
see  the  place  in  the  frame  exactly  fitted  and  prepared  to 
bring  such  piece  in — in  such  case,  we  find  it  impossible  not  to 
believe  that  Stephen  and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all 
understood  one  another  from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked 
upon  a  common  plan  or  draft,  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow 
was  struck." 

The  orator  went  on  to  show  the  unstable  footing  of  Senator 
Douglas  on  his  application  of  the  Constitution  to  his  theory 
of  "popular  sovereignty."  And  being  aware  that  a  consider- 
able faction  of  the  Republican  Party  were  willing  to  forgive 
Douglas  his  erroneous  position  on  the  slave  question  if  he 
would  come  over  to  them,  and  that  in  such  case  the  "Little 
Giant"  might  be  confident  of  gaining  his  Presidential  ambi- 
tions, Lincoln  warned  the  Convention  against  such  action. 

"Senator  Douglas,"  he  said,  "holds,  we  know,  that  a  man 
may  rightfully  be  wiser  today  than  he  was  yesterday — that 
he  may  rightfully  change  when  he  finds  himself  wrong.  But 
can  we,  for  that  reason,  run  ahead,  and  infer  that  he  will 
make  any  particular  change,  of  which  he  himself  has  given  no 
intimation?  Can  we  safely  base  our  action  upon  any  such 
vague  inference? 

"Now,  as  ever,  I  wish  not  to  misrepresent  Judge  Douglas' 
position,  question  his  motives,  or  do  aught  that  can  be  per- 


The  House  Divided  133 

sonally  offensive  to  him.  Whenever,  if  ever,  he  and  we  can 
come  together  on  principle,  so  that  our  great  cause  may  have 
assistance  from  his  great  ability,  I  hope  to  have  interposed  no 
adventitious  obstacle.  But  clearly,  he  is  not  now  with  us — he 
does  not  pretend  to  be — he  does  not  promise  ever  to  be. 

"Our  cause,  then,  must  be  entrusted  to,  and  conducted  by, 
its  own  undoubted  friends,  those  whose  hands  are  free,  whose 
hearts  are  in  the  work,  who  do  care  for  the  results.  Two  years 
ago  the  Republicans  of  the  Nation  mustered  over  thirteen 
hundred  thousand  strong.  We  did  this  under  the  single  im- 
pulse of  resistance  to  a  common  danger,  with  every  external 
circumstance  against  us.  Of  strange,  discordant,  and  even 
hostile  elements,  we  gathered  from  the  four  winds,  and 
formed  and  fought  the  battle  through,  under  constant  hot 
fire  of  a  disciplined,  proud,  pampered  enemy.  Did  we  brave 
all  that,  to  falter  now? — now,  when  that  same  enemy  is 
wavering,  dissevered,  and  belligerent?  The  result  is  not 
doubtful.  We  shall  not  fail — if  we  stand  firm,  we  shall  not 
fail.  Wise  counsel  may  accelerate,  or  mistake,  delay  it,  but 
sooner  or  later  the  victory  is  sure  to  come." 

The  champion  of  human  rights  had  finished  his  training. 
He  stood  ready  for  action.  He  had  become  himself  a  chal- 
lenger. His  chief  opponent  was  Douglas,  also  trained  to  every 
art  of  encounter,  skilled  in  attack  and  defense,  famous  for  a 
hundred  battles  won.  Would  he  accept  the  challenge?  Then 
would  come  a  grapple  of  giants;  the  arena  a  Prairie  State,  the 
audience  a  Nation. — Aye,  a  world  would  witness  the  struggle, 
and  hold  its  breath  in  trembling  suspense  while  Freedom,  her- 
self, grew  pale  lest  he  who  strove  to  the  death  for  her  sweet 
sake  should  fail  and  her  fair  temple  fall  to  everlasting  ruin. 


Chapter  XII 

THE  GMAPPLE  OF  GIANTS 


IINCOLN'S  bold  stand  taken  at  Springfield  not  only 
made  him  the  logical  candidate  for  the  seat  in  the 
^Senate  occupied  by  Douglas,  but  it  made  him  the 
people's  choice  to  lead  them  out  of  the  wilderness  of 
conflicting  opinions  and  passions  to  stability  of  government. 
At  the  same  time  it  lifted  Douglas  to  the  most  extreme  point 
of  opposition  to  those  ideals.  Like  the  sun  breaking  through 
dark  clouds,  Lincoln's  logic  shone  into  the  darkest  corners 
and  revealed  the  miasma  of  the  swamps  as  well  as  the  splen- 
dor of  the  upper  landscape. 

Douglas  and  Lincoln  at  last  stood  face  to  face  before  the 
people.  The  Little  Giant  could  no  longer  pass  his  antagonist 
by  with  petty  compliments  of  his  "amiable"  qualities  or  his 
"intellectual  attainment."  Towering  before  him,  fired  with 
righteous  indignation,  dark  with  fierce  determination,  trained 
to  the  minute  by  a  life-time  devotion  to  principle,  rugged  of 
body  as  of  soul,  the  son  of  the  pioneer  advanced  upon  him, 
champion  of  all  the  weak  and  downtrodden  and  enslaved  of 
the  world. 

Lincoln  knew  Douglas  to  be  an  orator  of  winning  person- 
ality, spontaneous  in  declamation,  passionate  in  invective, 
lightning  in  attack,  excelling  in  impromptu  reply.  He  knew 
him  to  be  quick  to  seize  upon  the  weakness  in  an  opponent's 


The  Grapple  of  Giants  135 

argument,  adroit  at  making  the  most  of  the  strength  of  his 
own,  expert  in  all  the  wiles  and  strategies  of  controversy,  un- 
scrupulous about  employing  them  to  confound  an  adversary 
or  mislead  his  hearers,  the  best  offhand  debater  in  the  Senate 
during  one  of  its  most  brilliant  epochs.  Sumner,  Seward, 
Chase,  Everett,  Crittenden,  Trumbull,  Fessenden,  Hale, 
Wilson — Douglas  had  measured  swords  with  them  all  and 
rarely  had  he  retired  vanquished.  He  had  gained  an  almost 
unbroken  record  of  forensic  victories.  Swollen  with  the  pride 
of  achievement,  recognizing  no  will  but  his  own,  he  had  come 
to  look  upon  opposition  of  any  kind  with  ill-controlled  pas- 
sion. Twelve  years  in  the  Senate  had  led  him  to  regard  his 
seat  as  peculiarly  his  own.  Such  was  the  man  who,  in  the 
summer  of  1858,  Lincoln  challenged  to  debate  for  his  place, 
not  only  in  the  Senate,  but  for  his  place  as  a  leader  in  the 
Nation. 

Lincoln  did  not  overestimate  his  own  abilities  to  grapple 
in  a  final  encounter  with  the  man  he  had  pursued  so  per- 
sistently. Not  long  before  he  had  made  admission  of  how 
wide  a  gap  lay  between  them,  in  a  pathetic  contrast,  and  to 
his  own  disparagement. 

"Twenty-two  years  ago,"  he  said,  "Judge  Douglas  and  I 
first  became  acquainted.  We  were  both  young  then — he  a 
trifle  younger  than  I.  Even  then  we  were  both  ambitious — I, 
perhaps,  quite  as  much  as  he.  With  me,  the  race  of  ambition 
has  been  a  failure — a  flat  failure;  with  him,  it  has  been  one  of 
splendid  success.  His  name  fills  the  Nation,  and  is  not  un- 
known in  foreign  lands." 

Speaking  on  another  occasion  of  his  opponent's  more 
dangerous  qualities,  Lincoln  said:  "It  is  impossible  to  get  the 
advantage  of  him.  Even  if  he  is  worsted,  he  so  bears  himself 
that  the  people  are  bewildered  and  uncertain  as  to  who  has 
the  better  of  it." 


136  Abraham  Lincoln 


The  impossible,  then,  was  what  Lincoln  was  about  to 
undertake. 

Nor  did  Douglas  profess  to  despise  the  prowess  of  the  man 
who  had  " stepped"  into  the  arena  to  confront  him.  When 
informed  at  the  Capitol  by  a  dispatch  that  the  man  who 
had  so  persistently  opposed  him  in  minor  contests  had  been 
chosen  to  run  against  him  for  the  Senate,  he  said  to  the  group 
of  Republican  representatives  gathered  about  him  to  hear  it 
read,  "Well,  gentlemen,  you  have  nominated  a  very  able  and 
honest  man." 

At  another  time  he  voiced  a  more  vigorous  as  well  as  more 
characteristic  opinion:  "Of  all  the  damned  Whig  rascals 
about  Springfield,  Abe  Lincoln  is  the  ablest  and  the  most 
honest." 

The  contest  could  no  longer  be  delayed.  Douglas  rushed 
from  the  Capital  to  Chicago  where  he  made  his  first  attack. 
His  personal  following  in  that  city  was  tremendous.  It  was 
on  July  9th.  He  was  given  a  reception  fit  for  an  emperor. 
Crowds  blocked  the  way  to  the  station.  He  was  driven  to  the 
Tremont  House  in  a  coach  drawn  by  six  horses.  Banners, 
bands  of  music,  cannon  and  fireworks  added  their  various 
inspiration  to  the  scene.  He  spoke  that  night  from  the  bal- 
cony of  the  hotel  to  an  immense  audience.  In  the  crowd  stood 
Lincoln:  silent,  dark,  imperturbable.  There  were  other 
speeches  over  the  State  by  both  candidates.  Enthusiasm  was 
at  fever  heat.  Douglas  upheld  his  "popular  sovereignty" 
dogma.  Lincoln  covered  a  much  wider  field,  proclaiming 
everywhere  the  rights  of  man,  but  always  aiming  blows  at 
Douglas  as  the  exponent  of  all  that  was  dangerous  and  fateful 
to  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union. 

But  Lincoln's  nature  rebelled  at  this  long  distance  spar- 
ring. He  wanted  close  contact,  to  combat  his  skillful  oppon- 


The  Grapple  of  Giants  137 

ent  face  to  face,  where  the  blows  received  and  delivered  could 
be  witnessed  and  the  force  of  their  impact  judged  at  the 
moment  of  exchange.  On  the  24th  of  July  he  sent  a  direct 
challenge  to  Douglas  for  joint  debate.  On  the  30th,  Douglas 
finally  accepted  the  proposition  to  "divide  time,  and  address 
the  same  audiences,"  naming  seven  different  places,  one  in 
each  Congressional  District,  outside  of  Chicago  and  Spring- 
field, for  the  meetings. 

The  places  and  dates  were:  Ottawa,  August  21;  Freeport, 
August  27;  Jonesboro,  September  15;  Charleston,  September 
18;  Galesburg,  October  7;  Quincy,  October  13;  and  Alton, 
October  15. 

"I  agree  to  your  suggestion,"  wrote  Douglas,  "that  we 
shall  alternately  open  and  close  the  discussion.  I  will  speak 
at  Ottawa  one  hour,  you  can  reply,  occupying  an  hour  and  a 
half,  and  I  will  then  follow  for  half  an  hour.  At  Freeport  you 
shall  open  the  discussion  and  speak  for  one  hour,  I  will  follow 
for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  you  can  then  reply  for  half  an 
hour.  We  will  alternate  in  like  manner  in  each  successive 
place." 

To  this  agreement  Lincoln  gave  his  consent,  "Although," 
he  wrote,  "by  the  terms  as  you  propose  you  take  four  open- 
ings and  closes  to  my  three." 

The  blows  these  giants  gave  and  received  can  only  be 
appreciated  by  a  thorough  study  of  the  speeches.  They  drew 
such  audiences  as  were  never  assembled  before  or  since  on 
such  occasions.  Their  partisans  were  in  a  continual  frenzy 
of  passion. 

"Never  before  nor  since,"  says  Alonzo  Rothschild  in  his 
Work  on  Lincoln,  "have  two  citizens  engaged  in  a  series  of 
public  discussions  which  involved  questions  of  equal  im- 
portance. Personal  and  purely  local  differences  were  over- 


138  Abraham  Lincoln 


shadowed  from  the  very  beginning  by  what  the  disputants 
had  to  say  on  issues  so  momentous  that  they  were  destined, 
within  a  few  years,  to  plunge  the  country  into  Civil  War. 
That  Lincoln  felt  the  premonition  of  the  coming  tragedy, 
might  be  gathered  from  his  reference  to  it  in  the  Quincy 
debate  as  'successive  acts  of  a  drama  to  be  enacted  not 
merely  in  the  face  of  audiences  like  his,  but  in  the  face  of  the 
Nation,  and  to  some  extent,  in  the  face  of  the  world. "' 

Contest  memorable!  Over  the  arena  of  the  Illinois  prairies 
they  strove.  Now  Douglas  appeared  to  prevail,  now  Lincoln. 
One  page  of  those  two  hundred  and  sixty-three  pages  in 
which  the  debates  have  been  preserved,  persuades  us  that 
slavery  is  constitutional,  and  that  each  commonwealth 
should  be  allowed  to  have  the  " institution"  or  not,  as  it 
elects.  Turn  a  leaf  and  we  are  convinced  that  slavery  is 
wrong,  and  ought,  at  least,  to  be  restricted. 

Douglas  began  the  debate  by  treating  Lincoln  in  a  jaunty 
manner,  in  talking  down  to  him,  patronizing  him.  Sometimes 
these  personal  pleasantries  carried  scarcely  concealed  sar- 
casm; sometimes  they  were  merely  feints  to  get  out  of  cor- 
ners into  which  the  merciless  logic  of  Lincoln  had  driven  him. 
But  the  oftener  they  met  the  more  direct  were  the  blows 
delivered  by  Lincoln,  arguing,  not  for  himself,  but  for  the 
eternal  right. 

Throughout  their  earlier  debates  Douglas,  with  the  art- 
fulness of  which  he  knew  no  peer,  misrepresented  Lincoln's 
career  and  misstated  his  principles,  in  such  a  way  as  to  put 
Lincoln  on  the  defensive.  In  the  first  encounter,  advantage 
appeared  to  rest  with  the  Little  Giant.  But  at  the  Ottawa 
meeting,  the  second  on  the  schedule  and  where  Lincoln  had 
the  closing  argument,  the  Champion  of  the  Republicans  so 
beat  and  cornered  and  flayed  his  antagonist  that  when  he 


The  Grapple  of  Giants  139 

closed,  his  admirers  caught  him  up  from  the  platform  and 
bore  him  on  their  shoulders  to  his  hotel.  This  demonstration 
was  not  to  Lincoln's  liking  but  the  crowd  would  not  be 
denied,  and  bore  him  with  songs  and  huzzas  through  the 
shouting  populace. 

Perhaps  this  expression  of  the  hearty  good  will  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  people  gave  Lincoln  new  courage,  for  when 
the  champions  next  met  at  Freeport,  Lincoln  assumed  the 
offensive  and  thenceforth,  to  the  end  of  the  series,  he  fre- 
quently forced  the  fighting.  Douglas  soon  learned  to  respect 
Lincoln  's  skill  in  give  and  take  on  the  lower  levels  of  argu- 
ment and  changed  his  tactics.  He  became  at  times  belliger- 
ent, and  losing  his  temper  would  fall  upon  his  adversary 
with  personalities  which  Lincoln  was  not  slow  to  return. 
Then  Douglas  would  take  refuge  in  protesting. 

At  Galesburg  the  Senator  said:  "Does  Mr.  Lincoln  wish  to 
push  these  things  to  the  point  of  personal  difficulties  here? 
I  commenced  this  contest  by  treating  him  courteously  and 
kindly;  I  always  spoke  of  him  in  words  of  respect,  and  in 
return  he  sought,  and  is  now  seeking,  to  divert  public  atten- 
tion from  the  enormity  of  his  revolutionary  principles  by 
impeaching  men's  sincerity  and  integrity,  and  inviting  per- 
sonal quarrels.' 

Said  Lincoln  in  reply:  "I  do  not  understand  but  what  he 
impeaches  my  honor,  my  veracity,  and  my  candor;  and  be- 
cause he  does  this,  I  do  not  understand  that  I  am  bound,  if  I 
see  a  truthful  ground  for  it,  to  keep  my  hands  off  of  him.  As 
soon  as  I  learned  that  Judge  Douglas  was  disposed  to  treat 
me  in  this  way,  I  signified  in  one  of  my  speeches  that  I  should 
be  driven  to  draw  upon  whatever  of  humble  resources  I  might 
have  to  adopt  a  new  course  with  him.  I  was  not  entirely  sure 
that  I  should  be  able  to  hold  my  own  with  him,  but  I  at 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 


least  had  the  purpose  made  to  do  as  well  as  I  could  upon  him; 
and  now  I  say  that  I  will  not  be  the  first  to  cry,  'Hold'!  I 
think  it  originated  with  the  Judge,  and  when  he  quits,  I 
probably  will.  But  I  shall  not  ask  any  favors  at  all.  He  asks 
me,  or  he  asks  the  audience,  if  I  wish  to  push  this  matter  to  a 
point  of  personal  difficulty.  I  tell  him,  No.  He  did  not  make  a 
mistake  in  one  of  his  early  speeches  when  he  called  me  an 
'amiable*  man,  though  perhaps  he  did  when  he  called  me  an 
'intelligent'  man.  It  really  hurts  me  very  much  to  suppose 
that  I  have  wronged  anybody  on  earth.  I  again  tell  him,  No. 
I  very  much  prefer,  when  this  canvass  shall  be  over,  however 
it  may  result,  that  we  at  least  part  without  any  bitter  recol- 
lections of  personal  difficulties.  The  Judge,  in  his  concluding 
speech  at  Galesburg  says  that  I  was  pushing  this  matter  to 
a  personal  difficulty  to  avoid  the  responsibility  for  the  enorm- 
ity of  my  principles.  I  say  to  the  Judge  and  this  audience 
now,  that  I  will  again  state  our  principles  as  well  as  I  hastily 
can  in  all  their  enormity,  and  if  the  Judge  hereafter  chooses 
to  confine  himself  to  war  upon  these  principles  he  will  prob- 
ably not  find  me  departing  from  the  same  course." 

Lincoln  thus  made  plain  his  attitude.  Assuming  the  justice 
of  his  position,  he  held  it  with  vigor  against  argument  or 
abuse,  changing  weapons  when  his  adversary  changed,  and 
evincing  no  animosity  even  when  he  dealt  the  most  telling 
strokes.  But  he  no  longer  called  upon  his  humor  to  lighten 
the  argument.  Urged  by  friends  to  introduce  some  of  his 
witty  illustrations  and  humorous  anecdotes  to  gain  applause, 
he  replied  that  the  occasion  was  too  serious;  the  issues  too 
grave. 

"I  do  not  seek  applause,"  he  said,  "or  to  amuse  the  people, 
but  to  convince  them." 

Close  as  they  stood,  evenly  matched  as  they  appeared  to 


The  Grapple  of  Giants  141 

be,  they  were  as  far  apart  as  the  poles.  Douglas  was  fighting 
for  his  own  political  life;  for  the  culmination  of  his  ambition. 
He  had  played  a  stupendous  game  and  the  result  yet  hung  in 
the  balance.  Until  his  recent  quarrel  with  President  Bu- 
chanan, whose  attempt  to  foist  upon  Kansas  a  state  consti- 
tution by  fraud,  force  and  murder,  Douglas  could  not  follow, 
he  had  espoused  without  any  conscious  qualms  those  ideas 
of  government  which  seemed  the  surest  of  fulfillment.  He 
had  thus  kept  himself  at  the  head  of  a  great  body  of  citizens, 
North  and  South,  whose  ideals  were  "big  business";  on  one 
side  standing  for  an  undisturbed  continuation  of  manu- 
facturing with  paid  muscle  and  brawn  as  its  foundation,  on 
the  other  the  undisturbed  continuation  of  a  social  "institu- 
tion" the  profits  of  which  were  derived  from  the  blood  of 
slaves.  He  had  been  the  foremost  advocate  of  the  legal  ex- 
tension of  unpaid  labor  into  the  territories  and  the  new 
states  being  formed,  should  the  people  of  those  territories 
and  states  vote  to  do  it. 

His  great  intellect,  his  untiring  energy,  his  wit  and  his 
learning,  were  close  to  the  first  order.  But  underneath  was 
the  quicksand  of  a  shifting  conscience,  which  chameleon-like 
took  on  the  complexion  of  expediency.  In  one  hand  he  held 
the  brief  composed  to  defend  the  right  of  one  man  to  own 
another  man;  in  the  other  the  proclamation  that  men  had 
the  right  to  self-government.  Not  a  Little  Giant,  but  a  giant 
of  Herculean  proportions  he  must  have  been  to  have  kept 
his  place  under  such  circumstances. 

Lincoln,  on  the  contrary,  stood  in  no  such  case.  His  house 
was  builded  on  a  rock.  Let  the  tempest  rage,  it  would  not  be 
shaken.  He  had  ambition,  but  it  was  noble.  He  desired  dis- 
tinction, but  with  the  respect  that  should  make  it  dear.  He 
loved  life,  but  it  must  be  life  linked  with  the  hopes  and  aspira- 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

tions  and  successes  of  all  men.  And  he  stood  ready  to  sacrifice 
all  these  rather  than  to  accept  one  single  fallacy,  no  matter 
how  great  things  it  might  promise  him. 

So  they  stood  and  so  they  fought;  one  for  God's  truth,  and 
the  other  for  man 's  refinement  on  that  truth.  At  last,  coolly, 
calmly,  determinedly,  Lincoln,  with  one  powerful  blow  drove 
his  antagonist  from  the  false  foundation  he  had  laid  with 
such  care.  He  had  replied  to  seven  questions  prepared  by 
Douglas.  In  turn  he  propounded  four  of  his  own.  One  of 
these  was : 

"  Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  Territory  in  any  lawful 
way,  against  the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits,  prior  to  the  formation  of  a 
State  Constitution  ?" 

The  wisdom  of  this  question  is  apparent  now.  But  all  of 
Lincoln's  friends  and  backers  of  that  time  begged  him  not  to 
submit  it.  They  argued  that  Douglas  would  answer  it  in  the 
affirmative  to  save  his  standing  in  that  debate. 

"Let  him,"  was  Lincoln's  conclusion.  "If  he  does  it  may 
make  him  Senator  but  he  will  never  be  President." 

Douglas  did  answer  in  the  affirmative.  He  did  save  his 
senatorial  toga,  but  it  was  the  man  who  put  the  question, 
and  not  the  man  who  answered  it,  who  was  inaugurated  in 
Washington,  following  the  next  general  election.  With  that 
answer  Douglas  slipped  off  into  a  quagmire  from  which  he 
was  never  able  to  extricate  himself,  strive  he  ever  so  mightily. 
He  saved  his  popularity  in  the  North  for  the  time  being,  but 
henceforth  the  South  would  have  none  of  him.  He  had  to 
learn  the  full  significance  of  Lincoln's  application  of  the 
truth,  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  Doug- 
las was  such  a  house  and  the  division  of  his  principles  brought 
about  his  ruin,  just  as  a  few  years  later  it  brought  about  the 


The  Grapple  of  Giants  143 

ruin  of  all  that  had  been  so  carefully  and  shrewdly  built  upon 
the  policies  he  had  espoused  and  promulgated  and  defended. 

And  the  destiny  that  shapes  our  ends  with  inexorable 
justice  gave  to  the  two  men  the  fruits  of  their  labors — Doug- 
las was  forced  to  deny  his  policies  and  to  proclaim  those  of 
his  lifelong  opponent;  Lincoln  was  permitted  to  establish  his 
policies  eternally  and  to  die  for  them. 

Passing  years  bring  into  clearer  perspective  the  momentous 
issue  of  that  great  debate.  Beside  the  fallacies  of  the  man 
ambitious  for  his  own  ends,  the  virtues  of  the  man  ambitious 
for  his  country  and  his  race  shine  with  increasing  luster. 
Defeated,  cast  down  from  the  lofty  pinnacle  to  which  he  had 
so  arduously  climbed,  the  man  ambitious  for  self  came  finally 
to  honor  the  man  he  had  patronized  and  to  stand  humbly  as 
his  willing  disciple  in  the  fierce  light  that  beats  upon  the 
office  which  is  the  highest  gift  of  the  American  people.  Weak 
in  his  attempt  to  give  the  slave  states  a  wrong  by  the  ballot, 
Douglas  was  yet  strong  in  denying  their  right  to  secure  the 
same  wrong  by  the  bullet.  For  the  sake  of  his  memory,  fate 
gave  him  one  brief  hour  in  which,  with  the  eloquence  and 
fire  of  a  Cicero,  he  magnified  the  glory  of  the  Republic  and 
left  a  matchless  example  of  his  eloquence  in  his  call  to  arms 
when  the  flag  of  the  Union  had  been  torn  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  of  universal  freedom. 

And  we  may  be  sure  that  in  the  great  forgiving  heart  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  there  was  only  compassion  for  the  man 
whose  fate  was  so  linked  with  his  own,  and  who  came  in  the 
end  to  stand  with  him  on  the  great  question  they  had  de- 
bated with  such  power  and  force,  to  uphold  the  principle 
which  he  had  followed  to  such  immeasurable  lengths  and 
would  follow  to  the  tragic  climax. 


Chapter  XIII 

FMOM  STATE  TO  NATION 


THE  HOUSE-DIVIDED  SPEECH  made  Lincoln  at 
once  a  national  figure.  The  "step"  that  Douglas  had 
invited  him  to  take  in  Springfield  four  years  before 
had  developed  into  a  swinging  stride  that  was  carrying 
him  powerfully  forward  on  his  destined  way.  With  his 
utterance,  "a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,"  he 
had  demonstrated  the  futility  of  further  compromise  with 
the  evil  of  slavery.  The  inspired  glow  of  his  genius  had  re- 
vealed at  once  the  Ship  of  State  on  a  storm-tossed  ocean  and 
the  reefs  toward  which  she  was  being  inevitably  driven. 
Study  and  meditation  appeared  in  clear  terms  and  accentu- 
ated God-like  calm  in  that  great  speech.  In  revealing  the 
mind  of  the  Nation,  he  had  revealed  his  own. 

That  which  properly  constitutes  the  life  of  everyone  is  a 
profound  secret,  says  Thoreau.  But  Lincoln  at  this  time 
bravely  disclosed  the  depths  of  his  being.  He  did  this  with 
such  simple  dignity  that  everyone,  everywhere,  felt  that  he 
had  spoken  their  deeper  thoughts,  and  revealed  themselves 
to  themselves  and  to  each  other.  It  was  that  touch  of  nature 
which  makes  the  whole  world  kin. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  best  men  do  not  seem  to  go 
contrary  to  others,  but,  as  if  they  could  afford  to  travel  the 
same  way,  they  go  a  parallel  but  higher  course,  a  sort  of 


From  State  to  Nation  us 

upper  road.  Does  not  Lincoln  measure  up  to  this  standard  of 
the  best?  He  seems  never  to  be  going  contrary  to  the  course 
of  humanity.  He  seems  always  with  it,  but  on  a  higher  level, 
as  pilot  and  encourager.  How  kindly  he  leads;  with  what 
compassion  he  views  the  struggles  of  his  fellows!  Study  Lin- 
coln the  least  little  bit  and  he  becomes  at  once  a  familiar. 
You  feel  that  your  entrance  to  the  company  of  a  great  lover 
has  stirred  the  love  impulse  in  your  own  heart,  and  humanity 
becomes  of  greater  moment,  is  nearer,  and  compounded  of 
your  own  virtues,  your  own  infirmities. 

Attempts  to  refine  Lincoln  have  been  no  more  successful 
in  biography  than  they  were  in  his  lifetime.  They  are  like 
stripping  the  coat  from  the  thistle  to  make  it  a  cornstalk. 
Lincoln  was  thoroughly  harmonious,  a  shellbark  hickory, 
sturdy  in  his  individualism.  People  of  all  stations  recognized 
his  likeness  to  themselves  and  followed  him  spontaneously  to 
attempt  the  high  and  noble. 

Lincoln  early  in  life  discovered  that  strong  people  were 
v/on  by  exhibitions  of  strength.  From  physical  to  mental 
he  carried  that  idea  with  prime  results.  As  in  New  Salem  he 
had  invented  a  harness  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  lift  nearly 
two  thousand  pounds,  so  in  his  Springfield  speech  he  had 
woven  a  harness  of  logic  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  lift  the 
whole  weight  of  the  slavery  question  to  the  view  of  all  the 
people,  everywhere. 

Students  of  the  time  charge  to  this  speech,  the  defeat  of 
Lincoln  as  a  senatorial  candidate.  That  is  mere  speculation 
born,  perhaps,  from  a  desire  to  argue  that  Lincoln  might 
have  been  elected.  He  had  unhorsed  Douglas  with  the  people, 
having  received  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote,  but  hold- 
over Democratic  Senators  gave  his  opponent  fifty-four  votes 
to  the  Republicans'  forty-six,  and  by  a  strict  Party  vote 
Douglas  was  returned  to  the  Senate. 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

That  this  defeat  of  his  high  hopes  was  a  hard  blow  to  Lin- 
coln cannot  be  disputed.  He  had  said  in  the  great  Lincoln- 
Douglas  Debate,  "I  affect  no  contempt  for  the  high  emi- 
nence he  (Douglas)  has  reached.  If  so  reached  that  the  op- 
pressed of  my  species  might  have  shared  with  me  in  the  elevation, 
I  would  rather  stand  on  that  eminence  than  wear  the  richest 
crown  that  ever  pressed  a  monarch's  brow." 

He  could  not  think  with  patience  of  lonely  grandeur,  such 
as  that  of  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napoleon.  Like  Pan  he  longed 
to  move  the  baser  elements  in  humanity  to  freedom  and 
gladness.  If  he  mounted  the  heights,  he  longed  to  take  with 
him  the  poor  slave,  the  robust  backwoodsman,  the  wild, 
rough  Clary  Grove  boys,  as  well  as  the  more  refined  and 
favored  of  humanity.  But  his  temporary  defeat  for  the  Sen- 
ate was  a  hard  blow. 

When  a  friend,  following  the  election  of  Douglas  asked 
Lincoln  how  he  felt  about  it,  he  replied  characteristically, 
"I  am  like  the  boy  who  stubbed  his  toe  on  a  root.  It  hurts 
too  bad  to  laugh,  and  I  am  too  big  to  cry." 

When  he  had  been  warned  that  should  he  put  the  question 
of  state  sovereignty  directly  up  to  Douglas,  he  might  answer 
it  in  a  way  that  would  result  in  his  being  returned  to  the 
Senate,  Lincoln  said:  "I  am  after  bigger  game.  The  election 
of  i860  is  worth  a  thousand  of  this.  If  he  wins  by  his  answer 
now  he  can  never  be  President." 

It  is  not  likely  that  Lincoln  thought  at  this  time  that  he 
might  be  the  standard  bearer  of  his  Party  for  that  great 
office.  He  saw  clearly,  however,  that  it  would  be  a  national 
catastrophe  if  a  man  who  had  openly  declared  that  he  cared 
not  whether  slavery  were  "voted  down  or  up"  should  be- 
come the  head  of  a  Union;  and  he  was  willing  to  sacrifice  his 
greatest  ambition  to  prevent  such  a  result. 


From  State  to  Nation  147 

He  must  have  realized  too,  as  no  one  else  did,  that  his 
arguments  during  the  debates  and  his  clear  exposition  of  the 
situation  which  confronted  the  people  of  the  country,  had 
given  him  distinction  beyond  the  boundaries  of  his  state  and 
that  he  would  have  an  audience  in  other  states;  that  the  bold 
challenge  he  had  made  would  result  in  his  being  called  to 
support  it  generally  before  the  people  during  the  coming 
Presidential  canvass. 

The  time  had  come  when  he  was  able,  as  he  had  been  will- 
ing long  before  in  that  slave  mart  in  New  Orleans,  to  "hit 
that  thing,  and  hit  it  hard."  Knowing  this,  he  had  appeared 
this  time,  to  challenge  Douglas  and  through  him  to  challenge 
all  the  forces  of  evil,  South  or  North,  that  should  put  material 
success  above  the  rights  of  man.  He  asked  nothing  of  the 
Nation  but  what  he  was  willing  himself  to  lead  in  doing. 

The  result  of  the  canvass  of  1858  had  called  for  material 
sacrifices  as  disastrous  to  his  finances  as  they  had  been  to  his 
political  career.  The  loss  of  over  six  months  from  his  business, 
and  the  expenses  of  the  canvass,  had  made  a  severe  drain  on 
his  personal  income.  In  this  day  of  million-dollar  political 
backing  for  those  who  put  on  the  armor  and  lead  to  battle, 
it  is  strange  to  read  Lincoln's  letter  of  that  time  to  Norman 
B.  Judd,  Chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Committee, 
when  the  books  were  being  balanced. 

"I  have  been  on  expenses  so  long,  without  earning  any- 
thing," he  writes,  "that  I  am  absolutely  without  money  now 
even  for  household  expenses.  Still,  if  you  can  put  in  $250, 
for  me  towards  discharging  the  debt  of  the  Committee,  I  will 
allow  it  when  you  and  I  settle  the  private  matter  between  us. 
This,  with  what  I  have  already  paid,  with  an  outstanding 
note  of  mine,  will  exceed  my  subscription  of  $500.  This,  too, 
is  exclusive  of  my  ordinary  expenses  during  the  campaign, 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 


all  of  which,  being  added  to  my  loss  of  time  and  business, 
bears  pretty  heavily  upon  one  no  better  off  than  I  am.  But  as 
I  had  the  post  of  honor,  it  is  not  for  me  to  be  over-nice." 

At  the  time  this  letter  was  written,  says  Herndon,  Lin- 
coln 's  property  consisted  of  the  house  and  lot  on  which  he 
lived,  a  few  law  books  and  some  household  furniture.  He 
owned  a  small  tract  of  land  in  Iowa  which  yielded  him  noth- 
ing, and  his  annual  law  practice  did  not  exceed  three  thou- 
sand dollars,  yet  the  Party  Committee  in  Chicago  were 
dunning  the  late  standard  bearer,  who  besides  the  chagrin 
of  his  defeat,  his  own  expenses,  and  the  sacrifices  of  his  time, 
was  asked  to  aid  in  meeting  the  general  expense  of  the 
campaign." 

But  however  fortune  frowned,  the  Lincoln  spirit  was  not 
daunted.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  prompted  him  during  the 
political  lull  to  write  a  lecture  on  Inventions,  which  he  de- 
livered in  several  places.  Preparations  for  this  lecture  sent 
him  to  the  library,  and  his  habit  of  nosing  among  books  sup- 
planted his  search  for  ideas  among  the  groups  at  the  corner 
grocery  and  upon  the  court  house  steps.  The  Socratic  method 
was  exchanged  for  that  of  Bacon.  Whether  consciously  or 
not,  he  was  preparing  himself  for  supreme  leadership. 

The  long  delayed  blow  had  been  struck  and  there  were 
signs  that  its  echoes  were  still  sounding  in  the  farthest  cor- 
ners. Invitations  to  take  part  in  the  political  canvass  during 
the  Fall  of  1859  came  from  a  half  dozen  states  where  elections 
were  to  be  held.  Douglas,  fresh  from  the  Senate,  had  gone  to 
Ohio.  In  response  to  the  demands  of  Party  friends,  Lincoln 
followed.  He  delivered  telling  and  impressive  speeches  at 
Cincinnati  and  Columbus,  following  the  Senator  at  both 
places.  His  speeches  were  published  and  distributed  as  cam- 
paign documents.  In  December  he  visited  Kansas,  speaking 


From  State  to  Nation  149 

at  Atchison,  Troy,  Leavenworth,  and  other  towns  near  the 
border.  His  reputation  grew.  The  principles  upon  which  he 
had  founded  his  arguments  against  Douglas  formed  the  basis 
of  growing  proclamation. 

Having  swung  so  far  to  the  forefront  in  the  intense  strug- 
gle, he  began  to  be  talked  of  in  connection  with  the  Republi- 
can nomination  for  the  Presidency.  To  be  classed  with 
Seward,  Chase  and  other  celebrities  of  the  day,  must  have 
stimulated  the  energies  of  a  man  far  less  ambitious  for  dis- 
tinction than  Abraham  Lincoln.  Yet  he  was  not  done  measur- 
ing his  own  genius  for  the  task  which  he  saw  clearly  would 
be  laid  upon  the  shoulders  of  him  who  should  be  elevated  to 
that  office. 

To  one  man  who  proposed  his  name,  he  said,  "  I  beg  that 
you  will  not  give  it  further  mention.  Seriously,  I  do  not  think 
I  am  fit  for  the  Presidency." 

But  the  people  of  Illinois  had  already  decided  to  propose 
him  for  the  high  office,  whether  he  was  willing  or  not. 

In  October,  1859,  he  had  received  from  New  York  City  an 
invitation  to  deliver  a  lecture  and  he  had  accepted,  notifying 
the  committee  that  his  speech  would  deal  entirely  with 
political  questions.  He  fixed  a  day  in  February  as  the  most 
convenient  time. 


Chapter  XIV 

AT  COOPEM  INSTITUTE 


MR.  LINCOLN'S  preparation  for  his  appearance 
in  New  York  was  diligent  and  exhaustive.  His  im- 
mediate efforts  covered  the  records  of  the  facts  of 
theFramers  of  the  Constitution  upon  every  occasion  when  the 
subject  of  slavery  was  up.  But  the  preparation  did  not  com- 
mence there.  It  had  comprised  the  best  thoughts  and  aspira- 
tions of  his  whole  existence.  He  had  arrived  at  positive  con- 
viction on  those  principles  which  he  enunciated  with  such 
clarity  and  force  in  the  Cooper  Institute.  This  may  be  seen 
from  previous  utterances.  Speaking  at  Leavenworth  in  the 
fall  of  the  preceding  year  he  addressed  the  Democrats  as 
follows: 

"But  you  Democrats  are  for  the  Union;  and  you  greatly 
fear  the  success  of  the  Republicans  would  destroy  the  Union. 
Why?  Do  the  Republicans  declare  against  the  Union?  Noth- 
ing like  it.  Your  own  statement  of  it  is  that  if  the  Black 
Republicans  elect  a  President  you  'won't  stand  it.'  You  will 
break  up  the  Union.  That  will  be  your  act,  not  ours.  To 
justify  it  you  must  show  that  our  policy  gives  you  just  cause 
for  such  desperate  action.  Can  you  do  that?  When  you 
attempt  it,  you  will  find  that  our  policy  is  exactly  the  policy 
of  the  man  who  made  the  Union — nothing  more,  nothing 
less.  Do  you  really  think  you  are  justified  to  break  up  the 


At  Cooper  Institute  15 1 

Government  rather  than  have  it  administered  as  it  was  by 
Washington?  If  you  do,  you  are  very  unreasonable,  and  more 
reasonable  men  cannot  and  will  not  submit  to  you.  While 
you  elect  Presidents,  we  submit,  neither  breaking  nor  at- 
tempting to  break  up  the  Union.  If  we  shall  constitutionally 
elect  a  President,  it  will  be  our  duty  to  see  that  you  also  sub- 
mit. Old  John  Brown  has  been  executed  for  treason  against  a 
State.  We  cannot  object,  even  though  he  agreed  with  us  in 
thinking  slavery  wrong.  That  cannot  excuse  violence,  blood- 
shed and  treason.  It  could  avail  him  nothing  that  he  might 
think  himself  right.  So,  if  we  constitutionally  elect  a  Pres- 
dent,  and,  thereafter,  you  undertake  to  destroy  the  Union, 
it  will  be  our  duty  to  deal  with  you  as  Old  John  Brown  has 
been  dealt  with.  We  shall  try  to  do  our  duty.  We  hope  and 
believe  that  in  no  section  will  a  majority  so  act  as  to  render 
such  extreme  measures  necessary." 

How  far-seeing  Lincoln  was,  is  shown  here  with  flawless 
logic.  His  sympathies  must  have  been  with  the  impulse  of 
John  Brown,  but  his  veneration  of  the  Constitution  com- 
pelled him  to  condemn  his  act.  Had  he  done  otherwise,  he 
would  have  had  no  firm  footing  for  his  later  decision  in  judg- 
ing the  acts  of  the  slave  states  when  they  performed  a  like- 
wise violent  act  against  the  Constitution. 

In  a  speech  made  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  answer  to  Douglas, 
he  addressed  himself  directly  to  Kentuckians.  After  showing 
them  that  Douglas  was  as  sincerely  and  quite  as  wisely  for 
them  as  they  were  for  themselves,  he  told  them  that  they 
must  take  Douglas  for  their  Presidential  candidate  under 
any  circumstances  or  be  defeated,  and  that  it  was  possible, 
if  they  did  take  him,  that  they  might  be  beaten.  He  told 
them  what  the  opposition  proposed  to  do  with  them  in  case 
it  should  succeed  in  the  approaching  Presidential  contest. 


152  Abraham  Lincoln 

Through  it  all  runs  that  broad  magnanimity  which  then  as  at 
all  future  stages  of  the  great  conflict,  marked  him  as  a  man 
with  love  for  men,  on  whatever  side  of  a  controversy  they 
might  have  cast  their  lots.  Addressing  himself  directly  to  the 
Kentuckians,  he  said: 

"I  will  tell  you,  so  far  as  I  am  authorized  to  speak  for  the 
opposition,  what  we  mean  to  do  with  you.  We  mean  to  treat 
you,  as  near  as  we  possibly  can,  as  Washington,  Jefferson, 
and  Madison  treated  you.  We  mean  to  leave  you  alone,  and 
in  no  way  to  interfere  with  your  institution;  to  abide  by  all 
and  every  compromise  of  the  Constitution,  and,  in  a  word, 
coming  back  to  the  original  proposition,  to  treat  you,  so  far 
as  degenerated  men  (if  we  have  degenerated)  may,  according 
to  the  examples  of  those  noble  fathers,  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son and  Madison.  We  mean  to  remember  that  you  are  as  good 
as  we;  that  there  is  no  difference  between  us,  other  than  the 
difference  of  circumstances.  We  mean  to  recognize  and  bear 
in  mind  always  that  you  have  as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms 
as  other  people,  or  as  we  claim  to  have,  and  treat  you  ac- 
cordingly. We  mean  to  marry  your  girls  when  we  have  a 
chance — the  white  ones,  I  mean — and  I  have  the  honor  to 
inform  you  that  I  once  did  have  a  chance  that  way. 

"  I  have  told  you  what  we  mean  to  do.  I  want  to  know  now, 
when  that  thing  takes  place,  what  you  mean  to  do.  I  often 
hear  it  intimated  that  you  mean  to  divide  the  Union  when- 
ever a  Republican  or  anything  like  it  is  selected  President  of 
the  United  States." 

(A  Voice):  "That  is  so!" 

"That  is  so/  one  of  them  says;  I  wonder  if  he  is  a  Ken- 
tuckian?" 

(A  Voice):  "He  is  a  Douglas  man." 

"Well,  then,  I  want  to  know  what  you  are  going  to  do 


At  Cooper  Institute  153 

with  your  half  of  it.  Are  you  going  to  split  the  Ohio  down 
through,  and  push  your  half  off  a  piece?  Or  are  you  going  to 
keep  right  alongside  of  us  outrageous  fellows?  Or  are  you 
going  to  build  a  wall  some  way  between  your  country  and 
ours,  by  which  that  movable  property  of  yours  can't  come 
over  here  any  more,  to  the  danger  of  your  losing  it?  Do  you 
think  you  can  better  yourselves  on  that  subject,  by  leaving 
us  here  under  no  obligation  whatever  to  return  those  speci- 
mens of  your  movable  property  that  come  hither?  You  have 
divided  the  Union  because  we  would  not  do  right  with  you, 
as  you  think,  upon  that  subject;  when  we  cease  to  be  under 
obligations  to  do  anything  for  you,  how  much  better  off  do 
you  think  you  will  be?  Will  you  make  war  upon  us  and  kill 
us  all?  Why,  gentlemen,  I  think  you  are  as  gallant  and  as 
brave  men  as  live;  that  you  fight  as  bravely  in  a  good  cause, 
man  for  man,  as  any  other  people  living;  that  you  have  shown 
yourselves  capable  of  this  on  various  occasions;  but  man  for 
man  you  are  not  better  than  we  are,  and  there  are  not  so 
many  of  you  as  there  are  of  us.  You  will  never  make  much  of 
a  hand  at  whipping  us.  If  we  were  fewer  in  numbers  than 
you  I  think  you  could  whip  us;  if  we  were  equal  it  would 
likely  be  a  drawn  battle;  but  being  inferior  in  numbers,  you 
will  make  nothing  by  attempting  to  master  us." 

Lincoln  never  would  absolve  the  men  of  the  South  from 
their  blood  brotherhood  with  him  and  those  he  represented. 
He  would  not  concede  that  they  were  personal  enemies.  Their 
claims  that  human  slavery  was  right,  he  did  deny,  but  even 
then,  he  was  willing  to  accede  to  them  all  that  tfre  Constitu- 
tion gave  them  and  trust  to  time  to  bring  about  the  final 
extinction  of  bondage  confined,  as  it  was  confined  by  the 
Constitution,  to  the  original  slave  States.  He  loved  men 
while  hating  the  evil  that  blinded  their  eyes  to  truth  and 


154  Abraham  Lincoln 

justice.  This  was  his  most  God-like  attribute  and  no  man 
ever  walked  the  earth  who  had  it  in  superior  degree,  if  there 
ever  was  one  who  equalled  it. 

He  found  his  text  for  his  Cooper  Institute  Speech  in  an 
utterance  of  Senator  Douglas  the  night  previous  in  Colum- 
bus. Douglas  had  said  that  "Our  Fathers  when  they  framed 
the  Government  under  which  we  live,  understood  this  ques- 
tion (the  question  of  slavery)  just  as  well,  and  even  better, 
than  we  do  now."  That  statement  of  Douglas*  gave  Lincoln 
an  opening  which  he  was  not  slow  to  grasp  and  which,  when 
he  had  exhausted  its  possibilities  before  the  foremost  thinkers 
and  writers  of  New  York  City  a  few  months  later,  left  the 
brilliant  aspirant  for  the  Presidency  not  a  leg  to  stand  on. 

As  Lincoln  sometimes  said  in  his  circuit  court  practice, 
when  he  was  thoroughly  aroused  by  the  tactics  of  an  oppos- 
ing council,  "I  am  going  to  skin  him,"  so  he  proceeded  in  the 
present  instance.  No  labor  was  too  severe,  and  no  matter 
bearing  upon  the  point  of  what  "our  fathers"  did  plan  and 
do  upon  that  momentous  question,  was  too  much  for  him  to 
undertake,  nor  did  he  rest  until  he  had  every  fact  bearing 
upon  the  question  at  his  finger  ends.  When  he  finally  took 
the  train  for  New  York,  he  bore  with  him  a  document  which 
was  to  establish  him  as  the  foremost  logician  of  his  age,  and 
which  was  to  be  a  clear  deed  to  the  Presidential  Chair. 

Lincoln  left  Springfield  on  this  momentous  journey  unac- 
companied by  a  single  friend.  So  little  weight  locally  attached 
to  his  adventure  that  even  the  papers  did  not  notice  his  de- 
parture. We  have  no  record  of  his  journey.  Lonely,  unknown 
to  his  traveling  companions,  he  made  his  solitary  way.  Lonely 
and  unknown  he  arrived  in  the  great  metropolis.  No  com- 
mittee waited  at  the  station  to  do  him  honor.  He  registered 
at  the  Astor  House,  a  stranger,  without  one  friend  to  clasp 


At  Cooper  Institute  155 

his  hand  or  smile  encouragement  to  his  great  undertaking. 
How  he  occupied  himself  before  his  appearance  among  the 
sophisticated  and  critical,  who  shall  say?  What  were  his 
musings,  his  apprehensions,  his  despairs  during  those  hours 
of  tedious  waiting?  Only  those  who  have  acquainted  them- 
selves with  the  deep  melancholy  of  his  nature  can  in  any  way 
approach.  And  when  he  finally  stood  before  the  audience, 
not  a  single  soul  of  all  assembled  there  was  known  to  him. 
The  trees  to  whom  he  spoke  in  those  days  of  youthful  trial 
of  oratory  were  more  intimate  and  companionable. 

For  a  report  of  this  meeting  and  the  consideration  these 
new  and  more  critical  friends  had  of  him  and  his  speech 
before  and  after  its  delivery,  we  are  indebted  to  the  account 
written  by  Charles  C.  Nott,  which  was  published  in  1909  in 
George  Haven  Putnam's  "Abraham  Lincoln:  The  People's 
Leader  in  the  Struggle  for  National  Existence.,,  It  is  a  plain 
unvarnished  tale  and  in  the  light  of  later  events  a  deeply 
pathetic  one.  Mr.  Nott's  picture  of  Lincoln,  going  from  that 
company  of  the  foremost  thinkers  of  the  Nation's  metropolis 
where  he  had  astonished,  enthralled  and  enlightened  them, 
limping  along  the  street  with  the  pain  of  a  new  pair  of  boots, 
being  guided  by  his  one  lone  companion  to  a  street  car  and 
directed  where  to  leave  it  in  order  to  reach  his  hotel, — cer- 
tainly there  is  no  page  of  fiction  offers  a  stranger  or  more 
deeply  moving  scene.  How  the  descendants  of  any  one  of 
those  present  would  glory  today  in  a  statement  that  one  of 
their  ancestors  drove  Lincoln  from  Cooper  Institute  to  his 
hotel.  None  such  appeared.  He  was  the  last  lone  passenger  in 
the  street  car,  grinding  over  the  streets  of  a  city  as  bare  of 
companions  or  sympathetic  friends  to  him  as  the  car  itself. 
Mr.  Nott  himself,  does  not  hesitate  to  declare  his  own  part  in 
this  strange  scene  of  which  he  writes: 


156  Abraham  Lincoln 


"The  Cooper  Institute  address  is  one  of  the  most  import- 
ant addresses  ever  delivered  in  the  life  of  this  nation,  for  at 
an  eventful  time  it  changed  the  course  of  history.  When  Mr. 
Lincoln  rose  to  speak  on  the  evening  of  February  27,  i860, 
he  had  held  no  administrative  office;  he  had  endeavored  to 
be  appointed  Commissioner  of  Patents,  and  had  failed;  he 
had  sought  to  be  elected  United  States  Senator,  and  had  been 
defeated;  he  had  been  a  Member  of  Congress,  yet  it  was  not 
even  remembered;  he  was  a  lawyer  in  humble  circumstances, 
persuasive  of  juries,  but  had  not  reached  the  front  rank  of 
the  Illinois  Bar.  The  record  which  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  placed 
in  the  Congressional  Directory  in  1847  rnight  still  be  taken 
as  the  record  of  his  public  and  official  life: 

"  'Born  February  12th,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky. 
Education  defective.  Profession  a  lawyer.  Have  been  a  Cap- 
tain of  Volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk  War.  Postmaster  in  a 
very  small  office.  Four  times  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
ture and  a  Member  of  the  Lower  House  of  Congress.'  Was 
this  the  record  of  a  man  who  should  be  made  the  head  of  a 
nation  in  troubled  times?  In  the  estimation  of  thoughtful 
Americans  east  of  the  Alleghanies  all  that  they  knew  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  justified  them  in  regarding  him  as  only  'a  Western 
stump  orator' — successful,  distinguished,  but  nothing  higher 
than  that — a  Western  stump  orator,  who  had  dared  to  brave 
one  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  Western  States,  and  who  had 
done  so  with  wonderful  ability  and  moral  success.  When  Mr. 
Lincoln  closed  his  address  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  states- 
man, and  had  stamped  himself  a  statesman  peculiarly  fitted 
for  the  exigency  of  the  hour. 

"Mr.  William  Cullen  Bryant  presided  at  the  meeting;  and 
a  number  of  the  first  and  ablest  citizens  of  New  York  were 
present,  among  them  Horace  Greeley.  Mr.  Greeley  was  pro- 


At  Cooper  Institute  157 

nounced  in  his  appreciation  of  the  address;  it  was  the  ablest, 
the  greatest,  the  wisest  speech  that  had  yet  been  made;  it 
would  reassure  the  conservative  Northerner;  it  was  just  what 
was  wanted  to  conciliate  the  excited  Southerner;  it  was  con- 
clusive in  its  argument,  and  would  assure  the  overthrow  of 
Douglas.  Mr.  Horace  White  has  recently  written:  'I  chanced 
to  open  the  other  day  his  Cooper  Institute  speech.  This  is  one 
of  the  few  printed  speeches  that  I  did  not  hear  him  deliver  in 
person.  As  I  read  the  concluding  pages  of  that  speech,  the 
conflict  of  opinion  that  preceded  the  conflict  of  arms  then 
sweeping  upon  the  country  like  an  approaching  solar  eclipse 
seemed  pre-figured  like  a  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Fate.  Here 
again  he  was  the  Old  Testament  prophet,  before  whom  Hor- 
ace Greeley  bowed  his  head,  saying  that  he  had  never  listened 
to  a  greater  speech,  although  he  had  heard  several  of  Web- 
ster's best/  Later,  Mr.  Greeley  became  the  Leader  of  the 
Republican  forces  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seward 
and  was  instrumental  in  concentrating  those  forces  upon  Mr. 
Lincoln.  Furthermore  the  great  New  York  press  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  carried  the  address  to  the  country,  and  be- 
fore Mr.  Lincoln  left  New  York  he  was  telegraphed  from 
Connecticut  to  come  and  aid  in  the  campaign  of  the  ap- 
proaching spring  election.  He  went,  and  when  the  fateful 
moment  came  in  the  Convention,  Connecticut  was  one  of 
the  Eastern  States  which  first  broke  away  from  the  Seward 
column  and  went  over  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  When  Connecticut 
did  this,  the  die  was  cast." 

It  is  difficult  for  younger  generations  of  Americans  to  be- 
lieve that  three  months  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated 
for  the  Presidency  he  was  neither  appreciated  nor  known  in 
New  York.  The  fact  can  be  better  established  by  a  single 
incident  than  by  the  opinions  and  assurances  of  a  dozen  men. 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

"After  the  address  had  been  delivered,  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
taken  by  two  members  of  the  Young  Men 's  Central  Repub- 
lican Union — Mr.  Hiram  Barney,  afterward  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Nott,  one  of  the  subsequent 
editors  of  the  address — to  their  club,  The  Athenaeum,  where 
a  very  simple  supper  was  ordered,  and  five  or  six  Republican 
members  of  the  club  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  building  were 
invited  in.  The  supper  was  informal — as  informal  as  any- 
thing could  be;  the  conversation  was  easy  and  familiar;  the 
prospects  of  the  Republican  Party  in  the  coming  struggle 
were  talked  over,  and  so  little  was  it  supposed  by  the  gentle- 
men who  had  not  heard  the  address  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could 
possibly  be  a  candidate  that  one  of  them,  Mr.  Charles  W. 
Elliott,  asked,  artlessly:  'Mr.  Lincoln,  what  candidate  do 
you  really  think  would  be  most  likely  to  carry  Illinois?'  Mr. 
Lincoln  answered  by  illustration:  'Illinois  is  a  peculiar  State, 
in  three  parts.  In  northern  Illinois,  Mr.  Seward  would  have 
a  larger  majority  than  I  could  get.  In  middle  Illinois,  I  think 
I  could  call  out  a  larger  vote  than  Mr.  Seward.  In  southern 
Illinois,  it  would  make  no  dirTerence  who  was  the  candidate/ 
This  answer  was  taken  to  be  merely  illustrative  by  every- 
body except,  perhaps,  Mr.  Barney  and  Mr.  Nott,  each  of 
whom,  it  subsequently  appeared,  had  particularly  noted  Mr. 
Lincoln 's  reply. 

"The  little  party  broke  up.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  cordially 
received,  but  certainly  had  not  been  flattered.  The  others 
shook  him  by  the  hand  and,  as  they  put  on  their  overcoats, 
said:  "Mr.  Nott  is  going  down  town  and  he  will  show  you  the 
way  to  the  Astor  House.,,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Nott  started 
on  foot,  but  the  latter  observing  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  ap- 
parently walking  with  some  difficulty,  said,  "Are  you  lame, 
Mr.  Lincoln  ?"  He  replied  that  he  had  on  new  boots  and  they 


At  Cooper  Institute  159 

hurt  him.  The  two  gentlemen  then  boarded  a  street  car. 
When  they  reached  the  place  where  Mr.  Nott  would  leave 
the  car  to  go  to  his  home,  he  shook  Mr.  Lincoln's  hand,  and 
bidding  him  goodby,  told  him  that  this  car  would  carry  him 
to  the  side  door  of  the  Astor  House.  Mr.  Lincoln  went  on 
alone,  the  only  occupant  of  the  car. 

"I  have  often  wondered  what  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  during 
the  remainder  of  his  ride  that  night  to  the  Astor  House," 
says  Mr.  Nott.  "The  Cooper  Institute  had,  owing  to  a  snow- 
storm, not  been  full,  and  its  intelligent,  respectable,  non- 
partisan audience  had  not  rung  out  enthusiastic  applause 
like  a  concourse  of  Western  auditors  magnetized  by  their 
own  enthusiasm.  Had  the  address — the  most  carefully  pre- 
pared, the  most  elaborately  investigated  and  demonstrated 
and  verified  of  all  the  work  of  his  life — been  a  failure?  But  in 
the  matter  of  quality  and  ability,  if  not  in  quantity  and 
enthusiasm,  he  had  never  addressed  such  an  audience;  and 
some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  Northern  States  had  expressed 
their  opinion  of  the  address  in  terms  which  left  no  doubt  of 
the  highest  appreciation.  Did  Mr.  Lincoln  regard  the  address 
which  he  had  just  delivered  to  a  small  and  critical  audience 
as  a  success?  Did  he  have  the  faintest  glimmer  of  the  brilliant 
effect  which  was  to  follow  ?  Did  he  feel  the  loneliness  of  the 
situation — the  want  of  his  loyal  Illinois  adherents?  Did  his 
sinking  heart  infer  that  he  was  but  a  speck  of  humanity  to 
which  the  great  city  would  never  again  give  a  thought?  He 
was  a  plain  man,  an  ungainly  man;  unadorned,  apparently  un- 
cultivated, showing  the  awkwardness  of  self-conscious  rustic- 
ity. His  dress  that  night  before  a  New  York  audience  was  the 
most  unbecoming  that  a  fiend's  ingenuity  could  have  devised 
for  a  tall,  gaunt  man — a  black  frock  coat,  ill-setting  and  too 
short  for  him  in  the  body,  skirt,  and  arms — a  rolling  collar, 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

low-down,  disclosing  his  long,  thin,  shrivelled  throat  un- 
covered and  exposed.  No  man  in  all  New  York  appeared  that 
night  more  simple,  more  unassuming,  more  modest,  more 
unpretentious,  more  conscious  of  his  own  defects  than 
Abraham  Lincoln;  and  yet  we  now  know  that  within  his 
soul  there  burned  the  fires  of  an  unbounded  ambition, 
sustained  by  a  self-reliance  and  self-esteem,  that  bade  him  fix 
his  gaze  upon  the  very  pinnacle  of  American  fame,  and  aspire 
to  it  in  a  time  so  troubled  that  its  dangers  appalled  the  soul  of 
every  American.  What  were  this  man's  thoughts  when  he  was 
left  alone?  Did  a  faint  shadow  of  the  future  rest  upon  his 
soul  ?  Did  he  feel  in  some  mysterious  way  that  on  that  night  he 
had  crossed  the  Rubicon  of  his  life-march — that  care  and 
trouble  and  political  discord,  and  slander  and  misrepre- 
sentation and  ridicule  and  public  responsibilities,  such  as 
hardly  ever  before  burdened  a  conscientious  soul,  coupled 
with  war  and  defeat  and  disaster,  were  to  be  thenceforth  his 
portion  nearly  to  his  life's  end;  and  that  his  end  was  to  be 
a  bloody  act  which  would  appall  the  world  and  send  a  thrill 
of  horror  through  the  hearts  of  friends  and  enemies  alike,  so 
that  when  the  woeful  tidings  came,  the  bravest  of  the 
Southern  brave  should  burst  into  tears  and  cry  aloud,  'Oh! 
the  unhappy  South,  the  unhappy  South/ " 

The  impression  left  on  his  companion's  mind,  as  he  gave  a 
last  glance  at  him  in  the  street  car,  was  that  he  seemed  sad 
and  lonely;  and  when  it  was  too  late,  when  the  car  was  be- 
yond call,  he  blamed  himself  for  not  accompanying  Mr.  Lin- 
coln to  the  Astor  House — not  because  he  was  a  distinguished 
stranger,  but  because  he  seemed  a  sad  and  lonely  man. 

That  Lincoln  felt  himself  able  to  grasp  and  present  with 
force  and  understanding  the  questions  then  agitating  the 
Nation,  has  a  happy  proof  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Nott,  written 


At  Cooper  Institute  161 

in  May,  i860.  The  Young  Men's  Republican  Union  of  New 
York  City  were  desirous  of  getting  out  a  fine  edition  of  the 
Cooper  Institute  speech,  and  Mr.  Nott  was  commissioned  to 
write  Mr.  Lincoln  concerning  his  wishes  in  the  matter.  One 
wonders  at  the  temerity  of  the  young  reviewer  in  suggesting 
to  Abraham  Lincoln  corrections  and  emendations  in  a  speech 
over  which  he  had  worked  for  months,  and  the  material  for 
which,  under  the  vital  heat  of  controversy,  he  had  been  a 
life  time  in  absorbing.  Nowhere  is  Lincoln's  magnanimity, 
coupled  with  his  adamantine  firmness,  more  clearly  displayed 
than  in  this  correspondence. 

69  Wall  St.,  New  York, 
May  23,  i860. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  enclose  copy  of  your  address  in  New  York. 

We  (the  Young  Men's  Rep.  Union)  design  to  publish  a 
new  edition  in  larger  type  and  better  form,  with  such  notes 
and  references  as  will  best  attract  readers  seeking  informa- 
tion. Have  you  any  memoranda  of  your  investigations  which 
you  would  approve  of  inserting? 

You  and  your  Western  friends,  I  think,  under-rate  this 
speech.  It  has  produced  a  greater  effect  here  than  any  other 
single  speech.  It  is  the  real  platform  in  the  Eastern  States, 
and  must  carry  the  conservative  element  in  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania. 

Therefore,  I  desire  that  it  should  be  as  nearly  perfect  as 
may  be.  Most  of  the  emendations  are  trivial  and  do  not 
affect  the  substance — all  are  merely  suggested  for  your  judg- 
ment. 

I  cannot  help  adding  that  this  speech  is  an  extraordinary 
example  of  condensed  English.  After  some  experience  in 
criticising  for  Reviews,  I  find  hardly  anything  to  touch  and 


162  Abraham  Lincoln 

nothing  to  omit.  It  is  the  only  one  I  know  of  which  I  cannot 
shorten,  and — like  a  good  arch — moving  one  word  tumbles 
a  whole  sentence  down. 

Respectfully, 

Charles  C.  Nott. 
To  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Springfield,  111.,  May  31,  i860. 
Charles  C.  Nott,  Esq. 
My  dear  Sir: 

Yours  of  the  23rd,  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  the  speech 
delivered  by  me  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  and  upon  which  you 
have  made  some  notes  for  emendations,  was  received  some 
days  ago — Of  course  I  would  not  object  to,  but  would  be 
p  eased  rather,  with  a  more  perfect  edition  of  that  speech. 

I  did  not  preserve  memoranda  of  my  investigations;  and 
I  could  not  now  re-examine,  and  make  notes,  without  an 
expenditure  of  time  which  I  cannot  bestow  upon  it — Some  of 
your  notes  I  do  not  understand. 

So  far  as  it  is  intended  merely  to  improve  in  grammar,  and 
elegance  of  composition,  I  am  quite  agreed;  but  I  do  not  wish 
the  sense  changed,  or  modified,  to  a  hair's  breadth — and  you, 
not  having  studied  the  particular  points  so  closely  as  I  have, 
can  not  be  quite  sure  that  you  do  not  change  the  sense  when 
you  do  not  intend  it — For  instance,  in  a  note  at  bottom  of 
first  page,  you  propose  to  substitute  "Democrats"  for 
"Douglas" — but  what  I  am  saying  there  is  true  of  Douglas, 
and  is  not  true  of  "Democrats"  generally;  so  that  the  pro- 
posed substitution  would  be  a  very  considerable  blunder — 
you  propose  insertion  of  "residences"  though  it  would  do 
little  or  no  harm,  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  sense  I  was 
trying  to  convey — On  page  5  your  proposed  grammatical 
change  would  certainly  do  no  harm — The  "impudently 


At  Cooper  Institute  163 

absurd"  I  stick  to — The  striking  out  "he"  and  inserting 
"we"  turns  the  sense  exactly  wrong — The  sense  is  "act  as 
they  acted  upon  that  question  " — not  as  they  acted  generally. 

After  considering  your  proposed  changes  on  page  7,  I  do 
not  think  them  material,  but  I  am  willing  to  defer  to  you  in 
relation  to  them. 

On  page  9,  striking  out  "to  us"  is  probably  right — The 
word  "lawyer's"  I  wish  retained.  The  word  "Courts"  struck 
out  twice.  I  wish  reduced  to  "Court"  and  retained — "Court" 
as  a  collection  more  properly  governs  the  plural  "have"  as 
I  understand — "the"  preceding  "Court"  in  the  latter  case, 
must  also  be  retained — The  words  "quite,"  "as,"  and  "or" 
on  the  same  page  I  wish  retained.  The  italicising,  the  quota- 
tion marking,  I  have  no  objection  to. 

As  to  the  note  at  bottom,  I  do  not  think  any  too  much  is 
admitted — What  you  propose  on  page  1 1  is  right — I  return 
your  copy  of  the  speech,  together  with  one  printed  here, 
under  my  own  hasty  supervising.  That  at  New  York  was 
printed  without  any  supervision  by  me — If  you  conclude  to 
publish  a  new  edition,  allow  me  to  see  the  proof-sheets. 

And  now  thanking  you  for  your  very  complimentary  let- 
ter, and  your  interest  for  me  generally,  I  subscribe  myself 
Your  friend  and  servant, 

A.  Lincoln. 

It  must  have  given  Lincoln  a  good  hearty  laugh  to  be 
informed  in  the  footnotes  to  the  speech,  when  it  was  finally 
printed  as  he  had  directed,  that  "No  one  who  has  not  actu- 
ally attempted  to  verify  its  details  can  understand  the 
patient  research  and  historical  labor  which  it  embodies  .  .  . 
Neither  can  anyone  who  has  not  travelled  over  this  precise 
ground  appreciate  the  accuracy  of  every  trivial  detail,  or  the 
self-denying  impartiality  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  has  turned 


164  Abraham  Lincoln 

from  the  testimony  of  "the  Fathers"  on  the  general  question 
of  slavery,  to  present  the  single  question  he  discusses.  From 
the  first  line  to  the  last — from  his  premise  to  his  conclusion, 
he  travels  with  swift,  unerring  directness  which  no  logician 
ever  excelled — an  argument  complete  and  full,  without  the 
affectation  of  learning,  and  without  the  stiffness  which  usu- 
ally accompanies  dates  and  details.  A  single,  easy,  simple 
sentence  of  plain  Anglo-Saxon  words  contains  a  chapter  of 
history  that,  in  some  instances,  has  taken  days  of  labor  to 
verify  and  which  must  have  cost  the  author  months  of  in- 
vestigation to  acquire." 

Lincoln,  reading  these  lines,  and  remembering  how  not 
months  but  a  lifetime  of  investigation  and  demonstration 
had  furnished  him  with  those  facts, — can  one  not  see  the 
merry  twinkle  in  his  eye? 

Following  the  Cooper  Institute  speech  Lincoln  made  sev- 
eral speeches  in  the  East,  the  report  of  it  having  caused  tele- 
graph demands  without  number.  He  visited  his  son  Robert 
at  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  a  student  at 
Phillips  Academy.  He  spoke  at  Providence,  Concord,  Hart- 
ford, Meriden,  Connecticut,  and  Bridgeport,  Connecticut. 
He  wrote  from  Exeter,  March  4th,  i860,  to  his  wife: 

"I  have  been  unable  to  escape  this  toil.  If  I  had  foreseen 
it,  I  think  I  would  not  have  come  East  at  all.  The  speech  at 
New  York,  being  within  my  calculation  before  I  started, 
went  off  passably  well  and  gave  me  no  trouble  whatever. 
The  difficulty  was  to  make  nine  others  before  reading  audi- 
ences who  have  already  seen  all  my  ideas  in  print." 

This  extract,  reveals  the  melancholy  side  of  Lincoln's 
nature.  He  could  not  see,  or  was  not  convinced,  that  his 
speeches  were  going  to  play  an  important  part  in  making  him 
President.  But  so  it  was,  as  the  action  of  the  delegates  proved. 


At  Cooper  Institute  165 

It  was  the  Cooper  Institute  oration,  the  last  composed  politi- 
cal speech  Lincoln  ever  made,  that  won  the  East  to  his  sup- 
port, and  gave  him  the  final  ascendancy  over  Mr.  Seward, 
his  formidable  rival  in  the  convention.  The  man  whom  New 
York  had  allowed  to  go  a  lonely  way  to  his  lonely  room  after 
his  speech,  when  next  he  stood  in  that  city  one  year  later, 
rode  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  four  white  horses  and  bowed  to 
the  shouting  thousands  lining  the  streets.  He  was  the  newly 
elected  President  of  the  United  States. 


Chapter  XV 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


THE  REPUBLICAN  National  Convention,  which  met 
in  Chicago  in  May  i860,  nominated  Abraham  Lin- 
coln for  President  of  the  United  States.  His  princi- 
pal opponents  for  the  high  office  were  Seward  of  New  York, 
and  Chase  of  Ohio.  Lincoln  was  nominated  on  the  third 
ballot.  When  the  vote  was  announced  the  great  Wigwam, 
which  had  been  built  to  house  the  convention,  became  a 
whirlpool  of  political  emotion,  the  outer  edges  of  which 
spread  to  every  loyal  state  in  the  Union.  The  humble  rail 
splitter  of  Illinois  had  defeated  the  famous  statesman  of 
New  York  and  the  cultured  Senator  of  Ohio,  both  of  whom, 
as  Lincoln  himself  said,  had  borne  the  labor  and  abuse  of 
initial  leadership  in  the  new  Party  and  were  entitled  to  the 
honor  more  than  he. 

But  the  delegates  who  made  up  that  great  Convention  of 
protest  against  oligarchy,  had  something  else  in  their  minds 
than  honors  earned  and  culture  acquired.  They  came  up 
from  the  country  to  Chicago,  a  vigorous,  virile  citizenry,  men 
of  the  shop  and  the  farm,  the  counter,  the  school  and  from 
the  bloody  plains  of  Kansas.  To  them  the  Wigwam  became 
a  holy  shrine  upon  whose  altar  they  were  gathered  to  offer 
sacrifice  to  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  and  Freedom.  Seward's 
"Irrepressible  Conflict,"  and  his  "Law  higher  than  the  Con- 


President  of  the  Republic  167 

stitution,"  shone  pale  and  dim  beside  Lincoln's  flaming  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  The  declaration 
of  Chase  that,  Constitution  or  no  Constitution,  the  slaves 
should  be  set  free,  bold  and  chivalric  as  it  was,  lacked  the 
conviction  of  Lincoln's  sane  worship  of  the  Constitution  and 
his  declaration  that  that  document  formed  the  only  wall 
against  which  the  Nation  could  put  its  back  in  the  coming 
struggle  for  existence.  Not  since  the  meeting  of  the  Fathers 
in  Independence  Hall  had  men  come  together  with  an  eye 
single  to  the  one  idea — the  sacredness  of  God's  creation  in 
the  individual  man. 

In  Lincoln  they  recognized  a  man  like  themselves,  a  child 
of  toil,  who  saw  in  the  bread  got  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow  the 
symbol  of  all  dignity  to  which  man  might  attain,  and  in  the 
degradation  of  toil,  the  serpent  that  was  to  strangle  all  the 
simplicity  and  dignity  of  life.  Already  they  had  given  him 
the  title  of  "Honest  Abe  Lincoln"  and  it  was  honesty  and 
not  brilliance  or  culture  or  senatorial  robes  to  which  they 
turned  in  that  momentous  hour.  They  chose  their  captain, 
and  in  that  choice  gave  added  proof  that  the  dictum,  "The 
voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,"  may  be  rightly  ap- 
plied to  that  part  of  the  people  who  are  touched  by  the  spirit 
of  a  sublime  idea. 

Many  careful  students  of  the  time  have  sought  to  locate 
the  cause  of  Seward's  defeat  by  Lincoln  in  that  Convention, 
but  they  cannot  agree  among  themselves  about  it.  Is  it  not 
because  they  concentrate  their  gaze  upon  Seward  and  Lincoln 
instead  of  upon  the  people?  The  sophisticated  of  our  day  can 
no  more  understand  why  the  "great  plain  people"  chose  their 
great  plain  leader  in  the  hour  of  their  country 's  crisis,  than 
could  the  sophisticated  of  i860.  Seward  was  everything  the 
sophisticated  mind  could  ask  for — a  truly  great  man  bound 


168  Abraham  Lincoln 


heart  and  soul  to  the  cause  of  the  Union.  Chase  was  no  less 
so.  Both  had  long  been  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  out  of 
which  had  sprung  the  Republican  Party.  But  sophistication 
is  a  flimsy,  if  elegant,  covering  for  truth,  and  is  licked  up  with 
a  single  flame  of  genuine  passion.  Lincoln  was  the  rugged 
granite  which  only  returned  an  added  glow  to  the  heat  of  the 
hour,  with  its  character  undisturbed. 

The  news  was  flashed  to  Springfield  that  Lincoln  had  been 
nominated,  and  the  man  most  concerned  took  the  dispatch 
with  a  steady  hand  but  with  a  deeper  glow  in  those  fathom- 
less eyes,  to  "the  little  woman  down  the  street  who  would 
like  to  hear  the  news." 

His  letter  of  acceptance  is  in  strong  contrast  to  most  of 
such  utterances  of  record.  "Sir,"  he  wrote,  addressing  the 
Honorable  George  Ashum,  Chairman  of  the  Convention,  "  I 
accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the  Convention  over 
which  you  presided,  I  am  formally  apprised  in  a  letter  of 
yourself  and  others,  acting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Convention 
for  that  purpose.  The  declaration  of  principles  which  accom- 
panies your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and  it  shall  be  my  care 
not  to  violate  it  or  disregard  it  in  any  part.  Imploring  the 
assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and  with  due  regard  to  the 
views  and  feelings  of  all  who  were  represented  in  the  Conven- 
tion, to  the  rights  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  and  the 
people  of  the  Nation,  to  the  inviolability  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  perpetual  Union,  prosperity,  and  harmony  of  all,  I 
am  most  happy  to  cooperate  for  the  practical  success  of  the 
principles  declared  by  the  Convention." 

Lincoln  took  no  counsel  for  this  utterance.  None  was 
needed.  The  platform  adopted  by  the  Convention  was  not 
written  to  conceal  thought  but  to  make  its  purpose  clear. 
The  Republican  Party  was  born  full-souled  and  free.  It 


President  of  the  Republic  169 

sought  not  clouds  but  sunshine.  The  platform,  and  Lincoln's 
acceptance  of  it,  are  in  strong  contrast  to  most  of  the  plat- 
forms and  acceptances  of  our  own  time  when  the  wisest  is 
puzzled  to  find  in  the  mass  of  big  sounding  words  and  in- 
volved sentences  any  exact  meaning,  or  any  well-defined 
principles.  It  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  people  when  their 
self-constituted  leaders  return  to  the  simplicity  and  direct- 
ness of  Lincoln's  nomination. 

The  canvass  that  followed  was  the  personification  of  in- 
tensity. Men  shouted  a  great  deal  but  thought  a  great  deal 
more.  The  result  was  a  Republican  victory.  Lincoln  was 
elected  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  country 
paused  for  a  brief  moment  to  breathe  and  take  account  of  its 
direction.  The  election  returns  gave  a  popular  vote  to  Lin- 
coln of  1,857,610:  Douglas,  1,291,574:  Breckenridge,  850,91 1 : 
Bell,  646,124;  in  the  Electoral  College  Lincoln  received  180 
votes,  Breckenridge  72,  Bell  39,  and  Douglas  12,  the  lone 
State  of  Missouri. 

Having  been  officially  notified  of  his  election,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
as  Herndon  relates,  moved  his  headquarters  from  the  law 
office  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  to  a  room  in  the  State  House 
Building,  and  there  with  his  Secretary,  John  G.  Nicolay,  he 
spent  the  busy  days  of  his  campaign.  "But  he  still  loved," 
says  his  partner,  "  to  come  to  our  office  of  evenings,  and  spend 
an  hour  with  a  few  choice  friends  in  friendly  privacy  which 
was  denied  him  at  his  public  headquarters.  These  were  among 
the  last  meetings  we  had  with  Lincoln  as  our  friend  and  fel- 
low at  the  Bar;  and  they  are  also  the  most  delightful  recollec- 
tions any  of  us  have  retained  of  him." 

Then  came  the  day  of  Lincoln's  departure  for  Washington. 
Henry  B.  Rankin  who  was  present,  has  described  the  time 
passed  between  Lincoln's  election  and  his  departure  from 


170  Abraham  Lincoln 

Springfield  with  rare  sympathy  and  feeling.  He  tells  us  how 
from  his  election,  November  6,  i860,  to  February  n,  1861, 
Lincoln  awaited  the  ceremony  of  inauguration.  Springfield 
had  become  the  mecca  of  admirers,  as  well  as  of  a  horde  of 
office  seekers,  who  thronged  around  him.  Thus  before  he  had 
assumed  the  office  of  state,  he  felt  the  burden  of  a  pressure 
for  official  recognition,  which  continued  to  oppress  and  dis- 
tract him  to  the  day  of  his  death.  "He  passed  those  trying 
first  months  after  his  election,"  says  the  chronicle,  "with 
rare  wisdom,  patience  and  tact.  Where  he  could  not  agree,  or 
wished  to  parry  questions,  which  no  foresight  could  then 
safely  solve,  he  became  the  questioner  himself,  or  sent  his 
caller  away  with  an  apt  story.  No  ill-considered  promise,  no 
committal  on  policies  to  guide  his  administration,  escaped 
his  lips  to  compromise  or  tie  up  his  future  usefulness.  There 
were  no  such  indiscretions,  through  inexperience,  during 
these  first  months  when  he  appeared  in  national  view  as  the 
President  elect. 

"On  the  evening  of  February  10,  1861,  he  spent  his  last 
hours  with  his  partner  in  the  old  office  of  Lincoln  and  Hern- 
don.  They  conferred  for  the  last  time  on  a  few  unfinished 
legal  affairs,  and  arranged  minor  business  matters.  They  re- 
mained alone  until  late,  passed  down  the  stairway  together 
and  along  the  streets,  until  near  Lincoln  's  home,  where  they 
parted  for  the  last  time  in  Springfield. 

"The  next  morning,  under  a  leaden  sky,  the  people  as- 
sembled to  bid  him  farewell  at  the  station,  saw  Lincoln 
appear  for  a  brief  moment  at  the  rear  door  of  the  car.  He 
paused,  as  if  surprised  at  the  sudden  burst  of  applause  occa- 
sioned by  his  appearance,  and  removing  his  hat  stepped  out 
on  the  platform,  bowing  right  and  left  and  remaining  silent 
until  the  salute  ceased.  His  short  address  was  a  great  surprise 


President  of  the  Republic  171 

to  reporters  and  politicians.  In  it  there  was  nothing  that 
satisfied  their  excited  expectations.  In  its  delivery  there  were 
no  gestures.  His  manner  was  calm  and  self-contained,  yet  his 
voice  was  tremulous  with  suppressed  emotions,  while  strong 
emphasis  marked  many  words  and  sentences.  The  last  sen- 
tence was  spoken  in  lower  tones,  with  a  yearning  tenderness 
in  his  voice,  most  unusual  to  him;  and,  with  its  closing  words, 
he  bowed  low,  and  with  firmly  compressed  lips  whose  silence 
meant  so  much  to  those  who  knew  him  best,  turned  from  his 
position  on  the  platform  and  stood  at  the  open  door,  while 
the  train,  just  starting,  moved  slowly  bearing  him  away  from 
us  through  the  cold  grey  misty  haze  of  rain.  Little  then  we 
knew  how  he  would  return!  Thank  God  for  the  shortness  of 
human  vision;  that  he  who  went,  and  we  who  remained,  could 
not  then  discern  the  appalling  future  that  so  darkly  hung 
above  and  before  us  all ! 

"These  were  his  farewell  words: 

"'My  Friends:  No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can  appre- 
ciate my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place,  and 
the  kindness  of  these  people,  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have 
lived  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young 
to  an  old  man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one 
is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I 
may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which 
rested  upon  Washington.  Without  the  assistance  of  that 
Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With 
that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go 
with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good, 
let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care 
commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  com- 
mend me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell.' 

"The  train  rolled  on,  leaving  the  two  or  three  hundred 


172  Abraham  Lincoln 


people,  who  had  heard  this  farewell  address,  disappointed  at 
its  simplicity  and  neither  did  its  publication  win  for  it  im- 
mediately the  recognition  which  has  since  been  accorded  it 
as  among  the  most  sublime  of  intimate  expressions  that  has 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  man." 

The  journey  to  Washington  was  a  leisurely  one,  time  hav- 
ing been  allotted  for  the  President-elect  to  appear  and  speak 
to  the  people  along  the  route.  At  Westfield,  Illinois,  Lincoln 
characteristically  descended  from  the  train  and  taking  a  little 
girl  in  his  arms,  kissed  her.  The  child  was  Grace  Bedell,  who 
previous  to  the  election  had  received  a  lithograph  of  Lincoln 
and  written  to  him  of  her  admiration,  and  having  her  childish 
heart  moved  by  the  rugged  pathos  of  his  features,  had  sug- 
gested that  if  he  were  to  let  his  whiskers  grow  his  appearance 
would  be  improved.  "You  see,"  he  said,  "I  have  let  these 
whiskers  grow  for  you,  Grace,"  one  of  the  most  illuminating 
incidents  of  the  nature  of  this  most  remarkable  man. 

In  Philadelphia,  Lincoln  assisted  at  the  ceremonies  of  un- 
furling a  magnificent  new  flag,  and  again  declared  his  deep 
reverence  for  the  Constitution  and  the  men  who  had  given  it 
to  the  world.  "I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  my- 
self in  this  place,"  he  said,  "where  were  collected  together 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle,  from 
which  sprang  the  institutions  under  which  we  live.  You  have 
kindly  suggested  to  me  that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restor- 
ing peace  to  our  distracted  country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sir, 
that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn, 
so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments 
which  originated  in  and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this 
hall.  I  have  never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not 
spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence." 


President  of  the  Republic  173 

Rumors  of  a  plot  to  assassinate  the  incoming  President 
had  gained  such  credence  that  Lincoln  was  that  night  trans- 
ferred to  another  train  and  accompanied  by  detectives.  The 
train  ran  directly  through  Baltimore  to  Washington  where 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  met  at  6:30  a.  m.  by  Lyman  B.  Trumbull, 
and  taken  to  the  Willard  Hotel.  Here  he  revised  his  Inaugu- 
ral Address  and  listened  to  suggestions  from  different  politi- 
cians concerning  his  proposed  Cabinet.  On  the  morning  of 
the  4th  of  March  he  rode  from  his  hotel,  with  Mr.  Buchanan, 
in  an  open  barouche  to  the  Capitol.  There  upon  a  square 
platform  that  had  been  built  out  from  the  steps  of  the  eastern 
portico,  with  benches  for  distinguished  guests  on  three  sides, 
the  customary  oath  of  office  was  administered  by  the  vener- 
able Chief  Justice  Taney.  Among  the  guests  was  his  old  rival, 
Senator  Douglas.  Lincoln,  when  he  stepped  forward  to  de- 
liver his  address,  was  embarrassed  at  finding  no  place  to  dis- 
pose of  his  hat  except  on  the  floor.  Douglas,  appreciating  the 
situation,  came  to  the  rescue  of  his  former  antagonist  and 
held  the  hat  until  its  owner  needed  it  again. 

The  imminence  of  Civil  War  had  swept  aside  those  supre- 
ficial  things  which  Douglas  had  once  considered  essential,  and 
with  clear  eyes  he  saw  how  "true  and  righteous  altogether^ 
had  been  the  judgments  of  his  great  opponent.  He  listened 
with  close  attention  to  the  address,  punctuating  the  passages 
with  appreciative  nods,  and  with  as  genuine  patriotism  as 
that  of  the  man  who  delivered  them.  The  fiction  of  his 
famous  compromise  was  revealed.  The  Little  Giant  at  that 
moment  had  his  triumph  too.  He  had  conquered  himself  and 
willingly  he  became  the  humble  servitor  to  a  nobler  genius. 


Chapter  XVI 

IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 


IINCOLN'S  First  Inaugural,  notwithstanding  the  deep 
current  of  love  for  all  mankind,  whatever  their  dif- 
ferences, was  no  more  than  a  feather  on  the  tornado 
of  passion  that  was  sweeping  over  the  country.  Neither 
its  frank  intimacy  nor  its  lofty  idealism  found  lodgment 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  already  in  arms  against 
the  Union.  Its  sanity  awoke  no  echo  in  the  hearts  of  the  radi- 
cal wing  of  the  Republican  Party,  and  its  declaration  express- 
ing determination  to  maintain  inviolate  the  rights  of  the 
states  fell  short  of  the  desires  of  even  the  most  conservative 
of  the  masses  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line. 

His  Cabinet  to  which  he  had  brought  such  men  as  Seward, 
Chase,  Cameron,  Blair,  Bates  and  Smith,  had  in  its  member- 
ship three  Republicans  and  four  Democrats.  Only  by  wise 
and  judicious  appeal  to  their  predominating  virtues  had  he 
induced  Seward  and  Chase  to  become  members  of  one  politi- 
cal family.  Both  had  been  ambitious  for  the  office  he  held, 
and  neither  could  comprehend  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
which  had  chosen  him  to  represent  it  in  their  stead.  He  had 
given  the  portfolio  of  State  to  Seward  and  he  had  accepted  it. 
Chase,  when  tendered  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, felt  his  pride  rise  at  being  tendered  a  secondary  post  by 
his  old  political  rival,  and  only  Lincoln 's  direct  appeal  to  his 


In  the  White  House  175 

patriotism  and  sense  of  duty  in  a  situation  that  called  for  the 
sacrifice  of  self  upon  the  altar  of  the  Union,  had  induced  him 
to  agree  to  serve.  Even  after  Lincoln 's  arrival  in  Washington 
and  before  he  had  been  inaugurated,  a  situation  arose  which 
threatened  to  break  the  slate  Lincoln  had  prepared  with  so 
much  sleepless  anxiety.  Seward's  friends  waited  on  Mr.  Lin- 
coln and  urged  him  to  withhold  the  appointment  of  Chase. 
This  he  declined  to  do.  The  delegation  gloweringly  retired. 
A  little  later  Seward  sent  a  brief  and  coldly  formal  note  in 
which  he  asked  "leave  to  withdraw"  the  acceptance  of  his 
appointment.  Such  a  crisis  on  the  eve  of  his  administration 
might  have  caused  a  stronger  man  than  Lincoln  was  supposed 
to  be,  to  change  his  plans.  But  the  great  heart  of  Lincoln, 
bound  up  in  his  country's  honor  and  his  country's  peril,  coun- 
selled him  wisely.  Pondering  over  the  situation  for  two  days, 
he  handed  his  answer  to  his  Private  Secretary,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  his  inauguration,  with  his  homely  smile  and,  "I  can't 
afford  to  let  Seward  take  the  first  trick." 

The  note  was  brief  as  that  of  Seward.  Without  touching 
upon  the  questions  at  issue,  the  message  expressed  a  keen 
desire  that  Seward  should  not  persist  in  his  purpose.  "It  is 
the  subject  of  the  most  painful  solicitude  to  me,"  wrote  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "and  I  feel  constrained  to  beg  that  you  will  counter- 
mand the  withdrawal.  The  public  interest,  I  think,  demands 
that  you  should;  and  my  personal  feelings  are  deeply  enlisted 
in  the  same  direction.  Please  consider  and  answer  by  nine 
o'clock  a.  m.  tomorrow." 

Unable  to  withstand  such  a  direct  appeal  to  his  higher 
sense  of  duty,  Seward  reconsidered  his  decision  and  the  next 
day  the  cabinet  appointments,  as  originally  composed,  were 
submitted  to  the  Senate,  "And,"  flashes  Rothschild,  "Se- 
ward's name,  like  Abou  Ben  Adhem's,  led  all  the  rest." 


176  Abraham  Lincoln 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  at  this  time  with  a  solidified 
Union,  the  disorganized  state  of  the  government  when  Lin- 
coln was  suddenly  thrust  into  the  heart  of  things  and  given 
the  task  of  bringing  order  out  of  chaos.  Sumter  was  besieged. 
For  months  the  sympathizers  with  the  resolve  of  the  South 
to  secede  had  been  stripping  the  government  arsenals  of 
arms  and  munitions.  Soldiers  trained  at  Annapolis  and  West 
Point  had  retired  and  cast  their  lots  with  the  new  Confed- 
eracy. The  treasury  was  bankrupt.  Many  of  the  Senators  and 
Members  of  the  House  were  disloyal.  There  was  practically 
no  standing  army.  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  resigning 
from  the  service  in  large  numbers,  turned  their  swords 
against  the  Government;  treason  paralyzed  every  depart- 
ment at  Washington;  civil  government  buildings,  forts,  arse- 
nals, lighthouses,  ships,  marine  hospitals,  and  navy  yards 
had  been  seized  by  the  rapidly  organized  Confederacy. 
Demoralization  North,  and  impudent  assumption  of  author- 
ity South,  offered  hardly  a  point  of  vantage  for  the  new  ad- 
ministration to  lay  hold  upon.  Proclaimed  enemies  to  the 
Union  gave  to  the  President  less  anxious  hours  than  the 
fearful  and  distracting  elements  in  his  own  party.  Even  the 
Members  of  his  Cabinet  looked  askance  at  the  tall  ungainly 
stranger  from  the  Illinois  prairies,  as  yet  untried  in  the  com- 
plicated duties  of  administration.  Seward  patronized  him 
from  the  first.  He  considered  himself  far  more  capable  of  con- 
ducting the  affairs  of  the  Government  than  his  Chief.  He 
could  not  believe  that  one  with  the  limited  experience  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  such  as  he  knew  Lincoln  to  have  had  could  manage 
so  tremendous  a  machine,  already  racked  almost  to  demoli- 
tion. Before  a  month  went  by,  Seward  had  determined  to  win 
the  consent  of  Lincoln  to  surrender  his  authority,  and  to 
permit  him  to  pilot  the  Ship  of  State.  He  wrote  to  his  wife, 


In  the  White  House  177 

"I  have  assumed  a  sort  of  dictatorship  for  defense;  I  am 
laboring  night  and  day,  with  cities  and  with  states.  My  hope, 
rather  my  confidence,  is  unabated." 

Seward's  activities  were  such  that  the  opinion  gained 
ground  everywhere  that  Seward,  not  Lincoln,  was  the  real 
President.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  ever  vigilant  for  her  husband's 
honor,  repeated  to  him  the  boast  of  the  Secretary's  friends 
that  Seward  was  the  power  behind  the  throne  and  could  rule 
the  President  as  he  willed.  Lincoln  answered  her,  "I  may  not 
rule  myself,  but  certainly  Seward  shall  not.  The  only  ruler  I 
have  is  my  conscience — following  God  in  it — and  these  men 
will  have  to  learn  that  yet." 

Meanwhile  the  Confederacy  gained  headway.  Evacuation 
of  Fort  Sumter  seemed  inevitable.  Major  Anderson  reported 
that  his  provisions  were  almost  exhausted,  that  the  batteries 
about  the  fort  had  grown  so  formidable  and  the  post  was,  in 
many  essentials,  so  weak,  that  it  became  daily  less  tenable. 
In  a  few  weeks  the  garrison  would  be  reduced  to  starvation. 
Not  less  than  twenty  thousand  well  diciplined  men  would  be 
required  to  succor  his  decimated  command.  No  such  force 
appearing,  Lieutenant  General  Scott,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  advised  the  President  to  order  evacuation.  Lincoln 
stood  firm.  In  his  Inaugural  Address  he  had  declared  that 
"The  power  confided  in  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and 
possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment." Should  he  be  foresworn  at  the  first  threat  of  danger? 
He  ordered  General  Scott  to  hold  on.  This  brought  protests 
from  all  the  Members  of  his  Cabinet  except  one,  Postmaster 
General  Blair,  a  Democrat  of  the  Jacksonian  school.  Seward 
and  Chase  were  both  emphatic  in  their  stand  to  give  up  the 
Fort.  Still  Lincoln  refused  to  order  a  retreat. 

Lincoln  kept  his  own  council,  studied  the  maps,  was  inde- 


178  Abraham  Lincoln 


fatigable  in  his  interviews  with  army  men,  listened  to  the 
advice  of  his  Cabinet,  gave  every  suggestion  serious  consider- 
ation, once  in  a  while  relieved  the  intensity  of  his  feelings  by 
a  pat  story,  but  surrendered  no  jot  or  tittle  of  his  authority. 
Yet,  because  he  did  give  courteous  attention  to  their  sugges- 
tions, because  he  did  not  openly  proclaim  his  own  slowly 
forming  opinions,  because  he  was  a  big  man,  big  enough  to 
bear  his  burdens  in  silence  and  deal  kindly  and  generously 
with  those  who  took  little  care  to  hide  their  feelings  of 
superiority,  because  he  did  not  attempt  what  he  could  not 
perform,  but  held  judgment  in  abeyance  until  the  hour 
should  be  ripe  for  action,  they  made  false  measures  of  his 
stature,  discounted  his  powers,  doubted  his  firmness  and 
thought  themselves  the  heroes  of  the  hour. 

Then  pondering  long  on  his  superiority  to  the  President 
and  impatient  with  the  times, — no  doubt  urged  by  his  fol- 
lowers, Seward  at  last  determined  to  declare  openly  to  the 
President  his  entire  disapproval  of  the  President's  conduct 
of  affairs.  In  "  Some  Thoughts  for  the  President's  Consider- 
ation," dated  April  i,  1861,  he  declared: 

"First.  We  are  at  the  end  of  a  month's  administration,  and 
yet  without  a  policy,  either  domestic  or  foreign. 

"Second.  This,  however,  is  not  culpable,  and  we  must 
CHANGE  THE  QUESTION  BEFORE  THE  PUBLIC 
FROM  ONE  UPON  SLAVERY  OR  ABOUT  SLAVERY, 
for  a  question  upon  UNION  or  DISUNION. 

"In  other  words,  from  what  would  be  regarded  as  a  Party 
question,  to  one  of  Patriotism  or  Union. 

"The  occupation  or  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  although 
not  in  fact  a  slavery  or  a  Party  question  is  so  regarded.  Wit- 
ness the  temper  manifested  by  the  Republicans  in  the  free 
states,  and  even  by  the  Union  men  in  the  South. 


In  the  White  House  179 

"FOR  FOREIGN  NATIONS" 

"I  would  demand  explanation  from  Spain  and  France, 
categorically,  at  once. 

"I  would  seek  explanations  from  Great  Britain  and  Russia, 
and  send  agents  into  Canada,  Mexico,  and  Central  America, 
to  rouse  a  continental  spirit  of  independence  on  this  continent 
against  European  intervention. 

"And,  if  satisfactory  explanations  are  not  received  from 
Spain  and  France, 

"Would  convene  Congress  and  declare  war  against  them. 

"  But  whatever  policy  we  adopt,  there  must  be  an  energetic 
prosecution  of  it. 

"For  this  purpose  it  must  be  somebody's  business  to  pur- 
sue and  direct  it  incessantly. 

"Either  the  President  must  do  it  himself,  and  be  all  the 
while  active  in  it  or 

"Devolve  it  on  some  Member  of  his  Cabinet.  Once 
adopted,  debates  on  it  must  end,  and  all  agree  and  abide. 

"It  is  not  my  especial  province. 

"But  I  neither  seek  to  evade  nor  assume  responsibility." 

Only  a  soul  imbued  with  God-like  patience  could  have 
temperately  considered  the  matter.  Lincoln  had  such  a  pa- 
tient soul.  He  did  not  accept  the  summons;  neither  did  he 
reply  in  kind.  He  answered  highly,  serenely,  soberly,  gener- 
ously, but  with  a  firmness,  the  sublimity  of  which  should 
have  given  his  Secretary  of  State  a  much  juster  estimate  of 
his  Chief.  The  criticisms  of  his  policies  he  destroyed  by  a 
recital  of  his  deeds.  The  summons  to  confer  upon  Seward 
absolute  authority  he  answered  in  these  words: 

Executive  Mansion,  April  I,  1861. 
Hon.  W.  H.  Seward. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Since  parting  with  you  I  have  been  considering 


180  Abraham  Lincoln 


your  paper  dated  this  day,  and  entitled  "Some  Thoughts  for 
the  President's  Consideration."  The  first  proposition  in  it  is, 
"First,  We  are  at  the  end  of  a  month's  administration,  and 
yet  without  a  policy,  either  domestic  or  foreign." 

At  the  beginning  of  that  month,  in  the  Inaugural,  I  said, 
"The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and 
possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts."  This  had  your 
distinct  approval  at  the  time;  and,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  order  I  immediately  gave  General  Scott,  directing  him  to 
employ  every  means  in  his  power  to  strengthen  and  hold  the 
forts,  comprises  the  exact  domestic  policy  you  now  urge, 
with  the  single  exception  that  it  does  not  propose  to  abandon 
Fort  Sumter. 

Again,  I  do  not  perceive  how  the  reinforcement  of  Fort 
Sumter  would  be  done  on  a  slavery  or  Party  issue,  while  that 
of  Fort  Pickens  would  be  on  a  more  national  and  patriotic 
one. 

Upon  your  closing  propositions,  that  "whatever  policy  we 
adopt,  there  must  be  an  energetic  prosecution  of  it, 

"For  this  purpose  it  must  be  somebody's  business  to  pur- 
sue and  direct  it  incessantly, 

"Either  the  President  must  do  it  himself,  and  be  all  the 
while  active  in  it,  or 

"Devolve  it  on  some  Member  of  his  Cabinet.  Once 
adopted,  debates  on  it  must  end,  and  all  agree  and  abide." 
I  remark  that  if  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it.  When  a 
general  line  of  policy  is  adopted,  I  apprehend  there  is  no 
danger  of  its  being  changed  without  good  reason  or  continu- 
ing to  be  a  subject  of  unnecessary  debate;  still,  upon  points 
arising  in  its  progress  I  wish,  and  suppose  I  am  entitled  to 
have,  the  advice  of  all  the  Cabinet. 

Your  ob't  serv't,    A.  Lincoln. 


In  the  White  House  181 

No  one  familiar  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  character  can  doubt 
how  he  suffered  from  this  expressed  belief  in  his  weakness  by- 
one  of  his  closest  and  most  respected  advisers.  No  one  can 
doubt  his  desire  to  take  advantage  of  the  ammunition  his 
indiscreet  Secretary  had  placed  in  his  hands;  but  neither  can 
one  doubt  his  greater  desire  for  every  assistance  he  could 
have  from  a  man  of  Seward's  genius  in  the  hour  of  the  Na- 
tion's peril.  That  his  magnanimous  treatment,  while  retain- 
ing his  position  with  flawless  honor,  was  effective,  as  he  must 
have  reasoned  it  would  be,  has  proof  enough  in  the  long  and 
faithful  service  rendered  to  Lincoln  and  the  country  by 
Seward  and  the  high  place  Lincoln  grew  to  have  in  his  affec- 
tions and  esteem.  It  was  not  so  long  after  this  episode  before 
we  find  Seward  writing  to  his  wife,  "Executive  skill  and  vigor 
are  rare  qualities.  The  President  is  the  best  of  us." 

The  President's  Cabinet  was  made  up  of  the  strongest  men 
he  could  name  of  undoubted  loyalty.  The  fact  that  he  wished 
to  surround  himself  with  superior  minds,  one  would  think, 
should  have  added  to  the  conviction  that  he  did  not  fear 
comparison  with  the  best  equipped  mentality  of  his  time. 
Furthermore,  he  required  of  each  Member  of  the  Cabinet 
proof  of  his  ability  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  that  department 
in  the  best  possible  way,  by  giving  him  the  utmost  liberty 
compatible  with  the  dignity  of  his  own  supreme  authority. 
Instead  of  inspiring  them  with  confidence  in  his  astuteness, 
this  action  fed  their  vanity  while  at  the  same  time  it  con- 
tributed to  their  belief  that  he  felt  himself  unable  to  lay  hold 
of  and  handle  the  complicated  affairs  of  administration.  It 
took  many  a  quiet  correction,  many  humorous  fables  and 
not  a  few  abrupt  and  uncompromising  orders  from  the  Presi- 
dent, laboring  under  his  Atlas  load  with  the  world  gone 
wrong,  to  convince  them  of  his  true  wisdom  and  greatness. 


182  Abraham  Lincoln 


Some  of  these,  Chase  most  of  all,  never  did  appreciate  to  its 
full  power  the  master  intellect  of  the  new  man  in  the  Nation. 
Having  supervision  of  but  one  branch  of  the  Government, 
they  could  not  see  it  as  a  whole.  Measuring  the  demands  of 
the  hour  by  the  demands  of  their  particular  department,  they 
wished  the  entire  orchestra  to  be  tuned  to  their  single  reed. 
It  is  apparent  now  that  Lincoln  alone,  of  all  the  great  men 
engaged  in  the  gigantic  struggle  of  saving  the  Nation,  rose  to 
a  height  where  he  could  look  down  upon  that  awful  tangle  of 
passion  and  prejudice  and  behold  with  God-like  compassion 
its  conflicting  elements.  Never  was  man  given  so  great  a  task 
with  so  few  means  for  its  accomplishment.  Confronted  by 
the  swift  gathering  forces  of  the  Confederacy,  rebellion 
already  an  accomplished  fact,  one  of  the  National  forts  be- 
sieged and  its  defenders  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  he  had 
not  at  his  command  a  force  of  twenty  thousand  men,  the 
required  estimate  to  rescue  that  fort  and  its  beleaguered 
garrison.  Neither  troops  nor  trained  men  to  officer  them  had 
he  in  the  field.  Neither  could  he  call  for  volunteers  without 
precipitating  civil  war.  What  such  a  war  meant  he  realized, 
and  he  shrank  from  it  with  horror.  With  a  heart  as  tender  as 
that  of  a  mother  with  her  sucking  babe  at  her  breast,  he 
recoiled  from  taking  any  action  that  should  strew  the  fertile 
fields  of  the  Republic  with  the  mangled  bodies  of  her  sons. 
Numberless  little  men  pecked  at  him  for  puny  offices;  politi- 
cal cables  stormed  the  White  House  with  demands  for  pat- 
ronage with  which  to  satisfy  henchmen;  radicals  behind  him 
howled  [for  an  immediate  declaration  of  freedom  for  the 
slaves,  while  conservatives  demanded  any  kind  of  compro- 
mise rather  than  an  appeal  to  arms.  His  Secretary  of  State 
was  willing  to  bring  on  a  war  with  foreign  nations  in  the  hope 
to  consolidate  the  country  against  a  foreign  foe.  With  no 


In  the  White  House  183 

record  of  public  administration  to  inspire  confidence  among 
his  colleagues;  with  no  outward  show  of  sophistication,  and 
no  inward  weakness  to  counsel  abandonment  of  principle  to 
expediency;  without  a  single  confidant  to  whom  he  could 
unburden  his  overcharged  heart;  solitary,  alone,  doubted, 
traduced,  despised,  hated,  maligned,  he  stood  calm,  firm, 
defiant,  as  years  before  in  Gentryville  he  had  stood  with  his 
back  to  the  wall  and  with  silent  lips  but  flashing  eyes  had 
held  at  bay  the  milling  mob  of  Clary  Grove. 

As  in  that  backwoods  drama  Lincoln,  by  the  clear  knowl- 
edge of  his  position  in  the  right,  and  his  unflinching  deter- 
mination to  hold  his  position  in  the  firm  faith  that  the  right 
must  finally  triumph  in  any  case,  had  brought  those  rough 
contending  spirits  to  subjection  and  finally  to  respect  and 
follow  him,  so  by  the  help  of  that  Divine  Providence,  to 
which  he  had  made  such  reverent  appeal  on  leaving  Spring- 
field, he  subjected  the  warring  factions  behind  him  and 
finally  the  rebellious  factions  confronting  the  nation,  until 
they  one  and  all  acknowledged  him  as  not  only  their  superior 
at  every  point,  but  their  great  lover  and  the  best  friend  they 
ever  should  know. 

During  those  first  weeks  of  his  administration,  Lincoln 
was  as  a  man  standing  at  the  verge  of  a  simoon-tossed  desert, 
with  a  tremendous  reservoir  behind  him,  his  hand  on  the 
lever  which  could  release  it,  but  when  the  release  of  the 
tiniest  rivulet  would  be  followed  by  a  deluge  which  should 
drown  the  world.  One  call  for  military  help  would  bring  on 
civil  war.  Silent  and  solitary,  with  the  awful  tragedy  of  such 
a  civil  conflict  before  him,  the  son  of  the  Kentucky  carpenter 
pioneer  wrestled  in  his  Gethsemane,  the  agony  of  a  mortal 
world  surging  up  in  his  heart,  and  the  discords  of  a  war- 
mad  nation  throbbing  in  his  soul. 


Chapter  XVII 

SAVING  THE  UNION 


SUMTER  FELL  and  war  came.  His  appeal  to  the  bet- 
ter nature  of  his  enemies  having  been  unheeded,  the 
President  was  forced  to  fight  for  the  Union  he  had 
sworn  to  uphold  at  all  hazards.  Congress  was  not  in  session 
and  he  was  compelled  to  act  on  his  own  initiative.  He  called 
for  volunteers.  Everywhere  were  heard  the  ominousroll  of 
the  drum,  the  shrill  cadence  of  the  fife,  and  the  growing  mur- 
mur of  defiance. 

City  streets  were  picturesque  with  volunteer  commands, 
zouaves,  artillery  companies,  civilian  gatherings.  Along  rural 
roads  in  clouds  of  dust  country  boys  hurried  to  offer  them- 
selves to  the  recruiting  station.  This  all  over  the  North.  In 
the  seceding  slave  states  where  preparation  had  been  going 
forward  for  months,  the  nucleus  of  a  large  army  was  already 
in  solid  formation  under  the  instructions  of  trained  officers, 
educated  in  the  military  academies  of  the  Nation.  The  rights 
of  a  State  as  against  the  rights  of  a  Nation,  were  proclaimed 
and  the  chivalry  of  the  aristocratic  South  was  pitted  against 
the  less  spectacular  but  deeply  determined  commonalty  of 
the  North.  The  land  was  dotted  with  white  tents.  Mothers  of 
all  sections  gave  tearful  blessings  to  their  sons  while,  like 
those  of  ancient  Sparta,  they  bade  them  "come  home  with 
their  shields  or  on  them." 


Saving  the  Union  185 

At  the  Nation's  capitol  there  was  hurrying  to  and  fro  in 
strange  disordered  tumult.  The  desertion  of  southern  con- 
gressmen had  left  the  Republicans  in  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  when  Congress  assembled  it  hurried  to  make  legal 
the  President's  acts  in  calling  for  volunteers  and  to  declare 
war  upon  the  insurrection  that  had  spread  to  all  the  cotton 
states  and  was  threatening  to  have  the  support  of  the  border 
states.  To  save  if  possible  these  border  states  to  the  Union 
was  Mr.  Lincoln's  pronounced  determination.  He  had  called 
to  his  Cabinet  men  representing  all  factions  of  those  parties 
which  denied  the  claim  of  the  States'  Rights  as  opposed  to 
the  supreme  right  of  the  Union.  But  no  two  of  these  factions 
agreed  as  to  the  best  way  to  preserve  the  Union.  Some  were 
for  an  immediate  proclamation  freeing  the  slaves.  Some  were 
for  allowing  slavery  to  continue,  even  with  its  encroachments 
upon  the  Territories.  Some  were  for  permitting  it  to  exist  in 
the  States  where  it  had  already  been  given  recognition  by  the 
Constitution. 

Among  them  all,  the  President  was  alone  in  his  position  to 
preserve  the  Union  by  any  or  all  these  means.  He  had  told 
them  that  a  house  divided  against  itself  could  not  stand,  that 
the  Nation  could  not  continue  half  slave  and  half  free.  He  had 
told  them,  both  North  and  South,  that  he  would  not  override 
the  Constitution  in  either  case.  He  had  pleaded  with  them  in 
his  sublime  Inaugural  to  recognize  their  own  brotherhood. 
He  had  counselled  calmness  of  judgment  and  patience  to 
work  out  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  gigantic  problem.  His 
great  heart  glowed  with  sympathy  for  humanity,  denying 
entrance  to  no  section,  neither  to  race,  color  nor  creed.  He 
asked  for  but  one  thing — veneration  for  the  Union.  Amid  the 
gloom  of  approaching  fratricidal  war  he  alone  took  up  the 
harp  of  the  Union  and  "  Smote  on  all  the  chords  with  might, 


186  Abraham  Lincoln 


Smote  the  chord  of  self  that  trembling  passed  in  music  out  of 
sight." 

He  alone  was  brave  without  boasting,  patient  without 
pretense,  gentle  without  compromise,  stern  without  detrac- 
tion, sympathetic  without  weakness,  sad  without  pessimism, 
tearful  without  despair.  Other  great  leaders  fixed  their  eyes 
on  some  particular  star  of  their  selection  moving  in  the  orbit 
of  their  beliefs.  He  alone  steered  his  course  by  the  one  fixed 
star.  Because  he  would  not  allow  his  eyes  to  be  blinded  by 
sympathy  for  one  race  to  the  exclusion  of  all  races,  he  was 
declared  heartless.  Because  he  gave  away  to  his  advisors  in  a 
thousand  minor  details,  he  was  charged  with  weakness.  Be- 
cause he  would  resign  no  hair's  breadth  of  his  authority  in 
great  things,  he  was  labelled  stubborn.  Because  he  would  not 
change  a  general  in  the  field  until  he  had  found  another  who 
might  better  fill  his  place,  he  was  scoffed  at  as  being  ignorant 
of  the  situation.  Because  he  sought  to  strengthen  the  party 
upon  which  he  must  depend  for  support,  he  was  judged  as  a 
scheming  politician.  Because  he  would  not  pull  up  the  roots 
of  his  being  from  the  soil  of  the  common  people,  he  was  satir- 
ized as  a  clown.  Because  he,  like  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  taught 
with  homely  parables  the  great  truths  of  life,  he  was  frowned 
on  by  the  cultured  and  sophisticated.  Because  he  could  not 
bring  himself  to  have  shot  the  volunteers  of  a  newly  organ- 
ized army  of  civilians  who  disobeyed  stern  military  rules,  he 
was  censured  for  disorganization  and  defeats  due  to  the  lack 
of  military  leadership.  Because,  like  Shakespeare,  he  made 
humor  the  open  window  to  let  in  reviving  sunlight  to  his 
overcharged  heart,  he  was  sneered  at  as  lacking  in  apprecia- 
tion of  the  dignity  of  his  high  office  and  unappreciative  of  the 
seriousness  of  the  hour.  Because  he  forgave  his  enemies,  both 
for  and  against  the  Union,  his  firmness  was  doubted  and 
oftentimes  his  judgment  denied. 


Saving  the  Union  187 

This  surging  sea  of  criticism  and  abuse,  which  made  his 
place  unique  and  difficult  beyond  that  of  any  other  president, 
and  probably  beyond  that  of  any  man  who  was  ever  called  to 
rule  a  people,  gives  authority  for  the  conclusion  of  the  fore- 
most minds  of  succeeding  generations  that  Abraham  Lincoln, 
judged  by  his  works,  is  the  greatest  figure  in  the  drama  of 
Civilization.  Accepting  all  men,  he  conquered  all  men. 
Denied  of  all  while  denying  none,  he  lifted  all  men  several 
notches  in  the  scale  of  progress  and  put  under  their  feet  a 
foundation  of  such  everlasting  substance  that  the  structure 
he  builded  seems  destined  to  become  the  cornerstone  for  the 
temple  of  universal  freedom. 

That  the  President  venerated  freedom  and  hated  slavery, 
goes  without  saying.  His  whole  life  had  been  devoted  to  the 
principle  of  the  one  and  to  exposing  the  erroneous  claims  of 
the  other.  But  he  knew,  by  that  marvelous  power  of  intuition 
which  was  the  natural  result  of  his  knowledge  of  the  whole 
people  and  sympathy  for  them,  that  even  the  North  as  a 
solid  whole  would  not  continue  the  war  on  the  declared  pro- 
position to  free  the  slaves.  The  leading  Members  of  his  Cabi- 
net, Seward,  Chase,  and  later  Stanton,  held  different  views. 
Horace  Greeley  believed  such  a  declaration  would  strengthen 
the  Union  cause.  Beecher,  Sumner,  Garrison,  Wendell  Phil- 
lips, great  orators  all,  were  pronounced  in  their  conviction 
that  the  war  should  be  prosecuted  with  this  one  end  in  view. 
It  is  evident  now  that  they  were  all  wrong,  and  that  Lincoln 
was  wise  as  well  as  good  and  saw  far  clearer  than  they  the 
great  danger  of  such  a  proceeding. 

His  hope  of  keeping  the  border  states  inj  the  Union  was 
founded  on  his  understanding  of  human  nature.  His  frequent 
attempts  to  gain  their  consent  to  gradual  emancipation  with 
payment  for  their  slaves,  won  their  confidence  and  respect 


188  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  his  honesty  and  by  these  means  some  of  them  remained 
loyal  and  were  immense  assets  to  the  cause  of  the  Federal 
arms.  Difficult  beyond  conception  was  Lincoln's  position 
during  those  first  years  of  the  Civil  War.  To  keep  the  North 
as  solidly  behind  him  as  possible  he  sought  out  their  favorites 
in  public  life  and  gave  them  offices  of  trust  and  command. 
Loyal  to  his  old  friends,  he  advanced  them  wherever  he 
could,  so  long  as  the  public  service  did  not  suffer.  Often  it 
was  a  man  who  had  been  his  opponent  and  who  continued  to 
mistrust  or  despise  him  that  he  pushed  to  the  front. 

Among  the  men  whom  Lincoln  selected  for  important  duty 
in  the  western  field  was  Fremont.  That  the  President  believed 
in  Fremont's  genius  for  command  was  not  strange.  He  had 
been  "The  Pathfinder"  across  the  great  plains  and  also  for 
the  Republican  Party  as  its  standard  bearer  in  its  first  cam- 
paign as  a  National  Party.  Lincoln  had  stumped  the  State  of 
Illinois  for  the  hero  of  the  hour  and  had  a  warm  feeling  in  his 
heart  for  him.  He  placed  the  bulk  of  the  western  regiments 
under  Fremont's  command  with  headquarters  at  St.  Louis. 
Fremont  could  not  but  know  Lincoln's  expressed  decision 
to  leave  the  slave  question  to  be  settled  later  while  the  greater 
question  of  saving  the  Union  was  on  trial.  But  his  abolition 
leanings  and  his  unwonted  ambition  to  lead,  caused  him  to 
overlook  or  to  ignore  the  President's  well-defined  attitude. 
Feeling  certain  of  winning  a  large  backing  for  his  act  from  his 
admirers  all  over  the  country,  and  anxious  to  reinstate  him- 
self in  the  full  confidence  of  the  public  eye  for  several  costly 
military  blunders,  (one  of  which  cost  the  life  of  the  brave 
General  Lyon),  without  previous  consultation  with  the  Presi- 
dent or  any  of  his  advisers  or  friends,  on  August  30,  1861, 
Fremont  wrote  and  printed,  as  Commander  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  West,  a  proclamation  establishing  martial  law 
throughout  the  State  of  Missouri  and  announcing  that: 


Saving  the  Union  189 

"All  persons  who  shall  be  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands 
within  these  lines  shall  be  tried  by  court-martial  and  if  found 
guilty  will  be  shot.  The  property,  real  and  personal,  of  all 
persons  in  the  State  of  Missouri  who  shall  take  up  arms 
against  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  be  directly  proven  to 
have  taken  an  active  part  with  their  enemies  in  the  field,  is 
declared  to  be  confiscated  to  the  public  use;  and  their  slaves, 
if  any  they  have,  are  hereby  declared  freemen." 

Having  taken  grounds  so  diametrically  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  his  Chief,  it  must  have  occurred  to  Fremont  that 
his  act  entitled  him  to  immediate  dismissal.  Subsequent 
events  give  color  to  the  supposition  that  he  courted  such  a 
climax  with  the  intention  of  setting  himself  up  as  a  rival  in 
authority,  possibly  with  the  hope  of  dictatorship.  How  far 
he  came  from  appreciating  the  wisdom,  as  well  as  the  pa- 
tience of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  denouement  shows.  Instead  of 
exhibiting  the  righteous  anger  which  he  no  doubt  felt  for  this 
reckless  misuse  of  power,  President  Lincoln  corrected  like  a 
wise  schoolmaster.  He  immediately  wrote  the  general: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Two  points  in  your  proclamation  of  August 
30  gives  me  some  anxiety:  First — should  you  shoot  a  man, 
according  to  the  proclamation,  the  Confederates  would  very 
certainly  shoot  our  best  men  in  their  hands,  in  retaliation; 
and  so,  man  for  man,  indefinitely.  It  is,  therefore,  my  order 
that  you  allow  no  man  to  be  shot  under  the  proclamation, 
without  first  having  my  approbation  and  consent. 

Second — I  think  there  is  great  danger  that  the  closing 
paragraph  in  relation  to  the  confiscation  of  property  and  the 
liberating  slaves  of  traitorous  owners,  will  alarm  our  southern 
Union  friends  and  turn  them  against  us;  perhaps  ruin  our 
rather  fair  prospects  of  Kentucky.  Allow  me  therefore,  to 
ask  that  you  will,  as  of  your  own  motion,  modify  that  para- 


190  Abraham  Lincoln 

graph  so  as  to  conform  to  the  first  section  of  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress entitled,  'An  Act  to  Confiscate  Property  Used  for  In- 
surrectionary Purposes/  approved  August  6,  1861,  and  a 
copy  of  which  Act  I  herewith  send  you. 

"This  letter  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  caution  and  not  of 
censure.  I  send  it  by  special  messenger,  in  order  that  it  may 
certainly  and  speedily  reach  you." 

So  wise  and  gentle,  but  withal  so  firm  a  rebuke,  should 
have  won  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  impetuous  general, 
but  blinded  by  his  passion  and  with  his  vanity  pushed  to  its 
limit  by  the  adulation  of  friends  as  blind  and  prejudiced  as 
he,  Fremont  wrote  in  reply:  "If  I  were  to  retract  it  of  my 
own  accord  it  would  imply  that  I  myself  thought  it  wrong, 
and  that  I  had  acted  without  the  reflection  which  the  gravity 
of  the  point  demanded." 

Fremont  seems  not  to  have  realized  that,  had  his  action 
gone  unrebuked,  the  President — after  his  declaration  in  his 
Inaugural,  that  it  was  not  his  intention  to  disturb  any  of  the 
Constitutional  rights  of  the  states,  and  his  further  decision 
that  a  state  could  not  secede  from  the  Union  but  was  only 
dislocated  by  its  insurrection — (that  had  Mr.  Lincoln  al- 
lowed Fremont's  order  to  stand,  he)  the  President  would 
have  been  subject  to  the  implication  of  being  wrong,  and 
having  "acted  without  the  reflection  which  the  gravity  of 
the  point  demanded." 

Fremont  soon  after  resigned.  The  President  was  besieged 
by  the  adorers  of  the  dashing  'Pathfinder/  demanding  his 
reinstatement,  but  the  general  had  lost  the  confidence  of  a 
man  who  could  hold  no  enmity,  even  when  he  had  been  so 
wickedly  abused. 

The  embarrassments  under  which  President  Lincoln 
labored  through  such  acts  of  ill-considered  enthusiasm,  were 


Saving  the  Union  191 

not  yet  over.  Don  Piatt,  who  was  Chief-of-Staff  with  General 
Schenk,  stationed  at  Baltimore,  in  the  absence  of  his  Chief 
issued  an  order  for  General  Burney  who  came  there  to  recruit 
for  a  colored  regiment,  to  recruit  only  slaves.  He  then  sent 
Burney  to  that  part  of  Maryland  where  slaves  were  thickest. 
His  act  was,  as  he  knew,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  principle 
laid  down  by  the  President.  He  has  since  confessed  that  he 
waited  until  his  superior  officer  was  absent  from  the  camp  to 
issue  the  order,  feeling  sure  the  general  would  not  listen  to 
its  being  done.  Piatt  was  called  to  Washington  and  before 
the  President. 

"I  never  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  angry  but  this  once,"  writes 
Piatt,  "  and  I  had  no  wish  to  see  a  second  exhibition  of  his 
wrath.  I  do  not  care  to  recall  the  words  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I 
wrote  them  out  that  night,  for  I  was  threatened  with  a 
shameful  dismissal  from  the  service  and  I  intended  appealing 
to  the  public.  They  were  exceedingly  sincere  for  the  President 
was  in  a  rage.  I  was  not  allowed  a  word  in  my  own  defense, 
and  was  only  permitted  to  say  that  I  would  countermand  my 
order.  I  was  saved  cashiering  through  the  interference  of 
Stanton  and  Chase,  and  the  further  fact  that  a  row  over  such 
a  transaction  at  that  time  would  be  extremely  awkward.  The 
President  never  forgave  me.  I  do  not  blame  him.  His  great, 
thoughtful  brain  saw  at  that  time  what  has  taken  years  for 
us  to  discover  and  appreciate.  He  understood  the  people  he 
held  to  a  death  struggle  in  behalf  of  the  great  Republic,  and 
knew  that,  while  the  masses  would  fight  to  the  bitter  end  in 
behalf  of  the  Union,  they  would  not  kill  their  own  brothers, 
and  spread  mourning  over  the  entire  land  in  behalf  of  the 
Negro.  He  therefore  kept  the  cause  of  Union  to  the  front." 

Out  of  a  similar  disregard  of  the  President's  position  on  the 
institution  of  slavery  as  affected  by  the  war,  and  as  the  war 


192  Abraham  Lincoln 

might  be  affected  by  it,  came  the  resignation  of  Secretary- 
Cameron.  In  his  report  as  Secretary  of  War  to  the  annual 
session  of  Congress  which  met  in  December,  1861,  he  an- 
nounced: "If  it  should  be  found  that  the  men  who  have  been 
held  by  the  rebels  as  slaves  are  capable  of  bearing  arms  and 
performing  efficient  military  service,  it  is  the  right,  and  may 
become  the  duty,  of  the  Government  to  arm  and  equip  them, 
and  employ  their  services  against  the  rebels,  under  proper 
military  regulations,  discipline  and  command." 

"Mr.  Nicolay  declares  that  "the  President  was  not  pre- 
pared to  permit  a  member  of  his  Cabinet,  without  his  con- 
sent, to  commit  the  administration  to  so  radical  a  policy  at 
that  early  date.  He  caused  advance  copies  of  the  document 
to  be  recalled  and  modified  to  the  simple  declaration  that 
fugitive  and  abandoned  slaves,  being  clearly  an  important 
military  resource,  should  not  be  returned  to  rebel  masters, 
but  withheld  from  the  enemy  to  be  disposed  of  in  future  as 
Congress  might  deem  best." 

Even  Members  of  the  Cabinet  failed  to  understand  that 
Lincoln  knew  the  temper  of  the  country,  and  disposition  of 
the  army,  and  the  delicate  strands  which  held  the  border 
states  to  the  Union.  The  President  wrote  to  Hon.  George 
Bancroft,  the  historian,  "  I  must  deal  in  all  due  caution  with 
this  question,  and  with  the  best  judgment  I  can  bring  to  it." 

This  caution  was  abundantly  manifested  in  his  annual  mes- 
sage to  Congress  of  December  3,  1861,  wherein  he  wrote: 
"In  considering  the  policy  to  be  adopted  for  suppressing  the 
insurrection,  I  have  been  anxious  and  careful  that  the  inevi- 
table conflict  for  this  purpose  shall  not  degenerate  into  a 
violent  and  remorseless  revolutionary  struggle.  I  have,  there- 
fore, in  every  case,  thought  it  proper  to  keep  the  integrity  of 
the  Union  prominent  as  the  primary  object  of  the  contest  on 


Saving  the  Union  193 

our  part,  leaving  all  questions  which  are  not  of  vital  military 
importance  to  the  more  deliberate  action  of  the  Legislature. 
*  *  *  The  Union  must  be  preserved;  and  hence  all  indispens- 
able means  must  be  employed.  We  should  not  be  in  haste  to 
determine  that  radical  and  extreme  measures,  which  may 
reach  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are  indispensable." 

But  neither  the  Fremont  climax,  the  Piatt  episode,  the 
Cameron  rebuke,  nor  this  calm,  sane  declaration  of  the  im- 
portance of  sticking  to  the  one  Great  Idea  could  curb  the 
desire  of  men  to  rush  the  goal.  General  David  Hunter,  com- 
manding the  Department  of  the  South,  issued  a  military 
order  which  declared  that: 

"  Slavery  and  martial  law  in  a  free  country  are  altogether 
incompatible;  the  persons  in  these  free  states,  Georgia, 
Florida,  and  South  Carolina,  heretofore  held  as  slaves  are 
therefore  declared  forever  free." 

When  the  news  of  this  proclamation  reached  the  President, 
he  immediately  wrote  to  Secretary  Chase,  "No  commanding 
general  shall  do  such  a  thing  upon  my  responsibility,  without 
consulting  me."  Three  days  later  he  published  a  proclamation 
declaring  Hunter's  order  entirely  unauthorized  and  void, 
and  adding:  "I  further  make  it  known  that  whether  it  be 
competent  for  me,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  to  declare  the  slaves  of  any  state  or  states  free,  and 
whether,  at  any  time,  in  any  case,  it  shall  have  become  a 
necessity  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  exercise  that  supposed  power,  are  questions  which, 
under  my  responsibility,  I  reserve  to  myself,  and  which  I 
cannot  feel  justified  in  leaving  to  the  decision  of  commanders 
in  the  field.  These  are  totally  different  questions  from  those 
of  police  regulations  in  armies  and  camps." 

One  after  another,  blind  to  the  situation  as  well  as  to  the 


194  Abraham  Lincoln 


character  of  the  man  whose  prerogatives  they  would  usurp, 
he  put  them  in  their  place,  proceeded  to  undo  the  mischief 
of  their  futile  attempts  to  snatch  glory  without  achievement, 
and  continued  on  his  way.  He  allowed  great  liberties  in  little 
things,  but  none  at  all  when  there  was  the  least  attempt  to 
usurp  executive  power.  His  responsibilities  were  enormous. 
To  balance  it  enormous  power  was  necessary.  He  was  jealous 
of  that  power  and  reserved  it  for  himself.  With  like  distinct 
reservation  of  executive  power  and  equally  plain  announce- 
ment of  the  contingency  which  would  justify  its  exercise,  was 
coupled  a  renewal  of  his  plan  and  offer  of  compensated 
abolishment,  supplemented  by  a  powerful  appeal  to  the 
public  opinion  of  the  border  states. 

"I  do  not  argue,"  continued  the  proclamation,  "I  beseech 
you  to  make  the  arguments  for  yourselves.  You  cannot,  if 
you  would,  be  blind  to  the  signs  of  the  times.  I  beg  of  you  a 
calm  and  enlarged  consideration  of  them,  ranging,  if  it  may 
be,  far  above  personal  and  partisan  politics.  This  proposal 
makes  common  cause  for  a  common  object,  casting  no  re- 
proaches upon  any.  It  acts  not  the  Pharisee.  The  change  it 
contemplates  would  come  gently  as  the  dews  from  heaven, 
not  rending  or  wrecking  anything.  Will  you  not  embrace  it? 
So  much  good  has  not  been  done,  by  one  effort,  in  all  past 
time,  as  in  the  providence  of  God  it  is  now  your  high  privilege 
to  do.  May  the  vast  future  not  have  to  lament  that  you  have 
neglected  it." 

With  such  words  as  these  of  heavenly  sweetness  and  such 
inherent  power,  Lincoln  strove  to  compass  the  desired  end. 
While  others  threw  a  few  sticks  together  in  an  effort  to  build 
a  monument  to  their  fame,  he  ignored  fame  and  built  a  sub- 
stantial bridge  across  which  four  million  serfs  should  safely 
walk  to  freedom  and  manhood.  He  knew  that  if  the  Northern 
Armies  were  finally  victorious,  slavery  was  dead. 


Saving  the  Union  195 

In  another  appeal  to  the  border  states  some  weeks  later 
(the  President)  after  proposing  that  they  proceed  to  legislate 
for  slavery  compensation,  closed  with  these  words: 

"If  the  war  continues  long,  as  it  must  if  the  object  (to  save 
the  Union)  be  not  sooner  attained,  the  institution  in  your 
states  will  be  extinguished  by  mere  friction  and  abrasion — by 
the  mere  incidents  of  the  war.  It  will  be  gone,  and  you  will 
have  nothing  valuable  in  lieu  of  it.  Much  of  its  value  is  gone 
already.  How  much  better  for  you  and  for  your  people  to 
take  steps  which  at  once  shorten  the  war  and  secure  substan- 
tial compensation  for  that  which  is  sure  to  be  wholly  lost  in 
any  other  event.  How  much  better  to  save  this  money  which 
else  we  sink  forever  in  the  war  *****  Our  common 
country  is  in  great  peril,  demanding  the  loftiest  views  and 
boldest  action  to  bring  speedy  relief.  Once  relieved,  its  form 
of  government  is  saved  to  the  world,  its  beloved  history  and 
cherished  memories  are  vindicated,  and  its  happy  future 
fully  assured  and  rendered  inconceivably  grand.  To  you, 
more  than  to  any  others,  the  privilege  is  given  to  assure  that 
happiness  and  swell  that  grandeur,  and  to  link  your  own 
names  forever  therewith." 

The  sentiment  of  the  border  states  being  divided,  no  action 
was  taken.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  Lincoln  decided  that 
he  must,  at  no  distant  day,  as  he  expressed  it,  "play  my  last 
card."  Here  are  his  own  words  on  the  subject.  In  the  summer 
of  1862  he  told  F.  B.  Carpenter,  the  artist,  "It  had  got  to  be. 
Things  had  gone  from  bad  to  worse,  until  I  felt  that  we  had 
reached  the  end  of  our  rope  on  the  plan  of  operations  we  had 
been  pursuing;  that  we  had  about  played  our  last  card,  and 
must  change  our  tactics,  or  lose  the  game.  I  now  determined 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  emancipation  policy;  and  without 
consultation  with,  or  knowledge  of,  the  Cabinet,  I  prepared 


196  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  original  draft  of  the  proclamation,  and  after  much 
anxious  thought  called  a  Cabinet  meeting  upon  the  subject. 
All  were  present  excepting  Mr.  Blair,  the  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral, who  was  absent  at  the  opening  of  the  discussion,  but 
came  in  subsequently.  I  said  to  the  Cabinet  that  I  had  re- 
solved upon  this  step,  and  had  not  called  them  together  to 
ask  their  advice,  but  to  lay  the  subject  matter  of  the  procla- 
mation before  them,  suggestions  of  which  would  be  in  order 
after  they  had  heard  it." 

It  was  on  July  22, 1862,  that  the  President  read  to  his  Cab- 
inet the  draft  of  his  final  proclamation,  which,  after  a  formal 
warning  against  continuing  the  rebellion,  was  in  the  following 
words : 

"And  I  hereby  make  known  that  it  is  my  purpose,  upon 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress,  to  again  recommend  the  adop- 
tion of  a  practical  measure  for  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the 
free  choice  or  rejection  of  any  and  all  states  which  may  then 
be  recognizing  and  practically  sustaining  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  and  which  may  then  have  voluntarily 
adopted,  or  thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt,  gradual  abol- 
ishment of  slavery  within  such  State  or  States;  that  the 
object  is  to  practically  restore,  thenceforward  to  be  main- 
tained, the  constitutional  relation  between  the  general  gov- 
ernment and  each  and  all  the  States,  do  order  and  declare 
that  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  One 
Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Sixty-Three,  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  any  State  or  States  within  the  constitutional 
authority  of  the  United  States  shall  not  then  be  practically 
recognized,  submitted  to,  and  maintained,  shall  then,  thence- 
forward, and  forever  be  free." 

The  Cabinet  expressed  divers  opinions.  Blair  thought  it 
would  cost  the  administration  the  fall  election.  Chase  pre- 


Saving  the  Union  197 

ferred  that  emancipation  should  be  proclaimed  by  command- 
ers in  the  several  military  districts.  Seward,  approving  the 
measure,  suggested  that  it  be  postponed  until  it  could  be 
given  to  the  country  supported  by  a  military  success,  instead 
of  issuing  it,  as  would  be  the  case  then,  upon  the  greatest  dis- 
aster of  the  war.  Mr.  Lincoln's  recital  continues:  "The  wis- 
dom of  the  view  of  the  Secretary  of  State  struck  me  with  very 
great  force.  It  was  an  aspect  of  the  case  that  in  all  my  thought 
upon  the  subject,  I  had  entirely  overlooked.  The  result  was  I 
put  the  draft  proclamation  aside,  as  you  do  your  sketch  for  a 
picture,  waiting  for  victory." 

While  the  President  waited  for  the  favorable  moment  he 
was  assailed  most  bitterly  on  every  hand.  Misrepresentation 
by  opposition  newspapers  he  could  afford  to  overlook,  but 
when  Horace  Greeley  printed  in  the  New  York  Tribune  an 
"open  letter"  ostentatiously  addressed  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  full 
of  unjust  censure,  all  based  on  the  general  accusation  that 
the  President  and  many  army  officers  as  well,  were  neglecting 
their  duty  under  pro-slavery  influences  and  sentiments,  Mr. 
Lincoln  replied  at  once: 

Executive  Mansion, 

August  22,  1862, 
Hon.  Horace  Greeley, 
Dear  Sir: 

I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  nineteenth,  addressed  to 
myself  through  the  New  York  Tribune.  If  there  be  in  it  any 
statements  or  assumptions  of  fact  which  I  may  know  to  be 
erroneous,  I  do  not,  now  and  here,  controvert  them.  If  there 
be  in  it  any  inferences  which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely 
drawn,  I  do  not,  now  and  here,  argue  against  them.  If  there 
be  perceptible  in  it  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive 
it  in  deference  to  an  old  friend  whose  heart  I  have  always 
supposed  to  be  right. 


198  Abraham  Lincoln 


As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you  say,  I 
have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the  shortest  way 
under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner  the  national  authority 
can  be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union  will  be  "  true  Union  as 
it  was."  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could,  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not 
agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the 
Union  unless  they  could,  at  the  same  time,  destroy  slavery,  I 
do  not  agree  with  them.  My  paramount  object  in  this 
struggle  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to 
destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any 
slave,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the 
slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some 
and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do 
about  slavery  and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it 
helps  to  save  the  Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  be- 
cause I  do  not  believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall 
do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the 
cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing 
more  will  help  the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when 
shown  to  be  errors,  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  as  fast  as 
they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views. 

I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  view  of 
official  duty;  and  I  intend  no  modification  of  my  oft- 
expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men  everywhere  could  be 
free. 

Yours, 

A.  Lincoln. 

With  the  desired  proclamation  in  his  desk  and  the  desire  in 
his  heart  to  publish  it,  he  was  forced  by  the  danger  of  the 
situation  to  accept  the  pressure  and  abuse  from  radicals 


Saving  the  Union  199 

everywhere.  On  September  13,  he  was  visited  by  an  influen- 
tial deputation  from  the  religious  denominations  of  Chicago, 
urging  him  to  issue  at  once  a  proclamation  of  universal 
emancipation.  Courteously,  but  with  an  understanding  of 
the  matter  and  with  a  knowledge  of  his  previous  action  and 
his  future  intentions,  he  answered  them  with  true  Lincoln 
wisdom,  his  argument  being  one  of  his  direct,  unanswerable 
statements. 

"I  am  approached,"  he  said,  "with  most  opposite  opinions 
and  advice,  and  that  by  religious  men,  who  are  equally  cer- 
tain that  they  represented  the  Divine  Will.  I  am  sure  that 
either  the  one  or  the  other  class  is  mistaken  in  that  belief, 
and  perhaps,  in  some  respects,  both.  I  hope  it  will  not  be 
irreverent  for  me  to  say  that  if  it  is  probable  that  God  would 
reveal  His  Will  to  others  on  a  point  so  connected  with  my 
duty,  it  might  be  supposed  He  would  reveal  it  directly  to 
me.  *  *  *  What  good  would  a  proclamation  of  emancipation 
from  me  do,  especially  as  we  are  now  situated?  I  do  not  want 
to  issue  a  document  that  the  whole  world  will  see  must  neces- 
sarily be  inoperative,  like  the  Pope's  bull  against  the  comet. 
*  *  *  I  view  this  matter  as  a  practical  war  measure,  to  be 
decided  on  according  to  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  it 
may  offer  to  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion." 

Four  days  after  this  interview  the  battle  of  Antietam  was 
fought,  and  when  after  a  few  days  of  uncertainty  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  it  could  be  reasonably  claimed  a  Union  victory, 
the  President  resolved  to  carry  out  his  long  mature  purpose. 

Lincoln  came  at  last  to  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
came  to  it  by  such  well  lighted  roads,  and  with  such  high  and 
holy  steps  that,  in  his  own  words  it  came  as  "gently  as  the 
dews  from  heaven,  not  rending  or  wrecking  anything."  It 
came  to  be  irrevocably  joined  to  the  Union  which  its  promul- 


200  Abraham  Lincoln 


gation  at  an  earlier  date  might  have  destroyed.  It  came  after 
Lincoln  had  long  striven  to  show  the  owners  of  slaves  an 
easier  way,  a  way  which  as  he  told  them  would  have  given  to 
them  the  undying  glory  that  will  forever  crown  the  brow  and 
illumine  his  name  as  the  Great  Emancipator. 


Chapter  XVIII 

BED    FIELDS    OF    WAE 


IN  THE  SPRING  of  *6i  the  wrinkled  front  of  war  was  to 
be  smoothed  in  three  months.  But  it  was  not  so.  Before 
a  year  went  by  there  were  under  arms,  North  and  South, 
at  least  half  a  million  men.  General  McClellan  with  the  Ar- 
my of  the  Potomac  commanded  the  largest  army  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen,  more  than  200,000  men  reporting  for  duty. 
Union  generals  in  other  departments  had  armies  of  from  20,000 
to  30,000  men  and  these  sometimes  were  joined  in  battle  under 
their  separate  commanders  forming  a  force  of  upwards  of 
100,000. 

Besides  these  great  armies  there  was  good  fighting  going  on 
all  the  way  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  foothills  of  the 
Rockies.  Cavalry  brigades  acting  almost  independently 
fought  heroic  engagements.  Wild  riders  from  the  great  plains, 
an  entire  regiment  mounted  on  white  horses  sweeping  down 
from  the  plateaus  of  Colorado  to  clash  in  sabre  encounters 
with  Quantrel  and  his  equally  wild  and  adventurous  riders 
from  the  field  of  Missouri  and  the  far  stretched  prairies  of 
Texas;  detachments  of  both  North  and  South  fighting  back 
and  forth  across  the  border  throughout  Missouri;  Indian  regi- 
ments recruited  in  the  Indian  Territory  for  both  sides  dashing 
into  the  barbarous  conflict;  all  this  gave  a  romantic  color  to 
the  fringe  of  the  struggle  outside  the  great  armies  assembled 


202  Abraham  Lincoln 

and  assembling  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  plains  before 
Washington. 

While  McClellan,  with  a  Napoleon's  ambition  to  win  the 
war  with  one  stupendous  battle  in  the  Peninsula,  was  calling 
for  more  men  and  more  men  to  make  success  certain  when  he 
should  move,  Grant,  with  untrained  troops  formed  of  regi- 
ments from  Iowa,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Indiana  and 
Ohio — not  soldiers,  merely,  but  patriots  one  and  all — with 
dogged  determination  drove  forward,  taking  Fort  Henry  and 
Fort  Donnelson,  Pittsburg  Landing,  and,  finally  investing 
Vicksburg,  roused  the  Nation  to  cheering  enthusiasm  with 
his  unconditional  surrender  demands,  in  reply  to  requests  for 
an  armistice. 

A  West  Pointer  with  a  record  of  cool  bravery  and  ability 
in  the  Mexican  War  as  a  Lieutenant,  Grant  found  little  en- 
couragement from  the  politicians  in  Illinois  when  from  a 
small  tannery  at  Galena  he  offered  his  services  to  the  Union. 
Finally  given  a  commission  as  Colonel  of  Volunteers  by  the 
Governor  of  Illinois,  he  drilled  his  men  and  got  into  action 
without  delay.  He  moved  on  like  some  ponderable  substance 
propelled  by  its  own  weight  until  after  his  capture  of  Don- 
nelson,  when  Lincoln  recognized  his  energy  and  indomitable 
courage  and  made  him  a  Major  General  of  Volunteers.  Under 
Halleck,  who  had  command  of  the  Department  of  Missouri, 
he  won  his  battles.  Halleck  took  credit  to  himself  for  the 
territory  and  forts  gained,  and  Grant,  close  mouthed,  grim, 
taciturn,  asked  for  no  promotion  but  only  for  victories. 

Before  Washington,  lay  McClellan 's  own  army  of  200,000 
well-fed,  well-equipped,  perfectly  drilled  soldiers,  fretting  for 
action.  Action  came,  but  so  manipulated  under  division  com- 
manders jealous  for  preferment  and  willing  only  to  win  when 
they,  and  not  their  brother  generals  should  be  credited  with 


Red  Fields  of  War  203 

victory,  that  successful  engagements  were  allowed  to  lapse 
into  drawn  battles  or  general  defeats.  Out  of  this  tangled 
skein  of  selfish  ambitions,  with  General  McClellan  himself 
the  chief  offender,  grew  up  that  strange  controversy  between 
the  General-in-Chief  of  all  the  Armies  and  the  Administra- 
tion which,  as  is  well  seen  today,  prolonged  the  war  and  cost 
the  Nation  immeasurable  blood  and  treasure. 

Lincoln,  the  civilian  from  the  Illinois  prairies,  with  no  mili- 
tary training  beyond  that  of  a  Captain  of  a  few  volunteers  in 
the  Black  Hawk  War,  now  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the 
Union  Armies,  was  the  rock  against  which  beat  the  storm  of 
criticism  for  McClellan  *s  refusal  to  move  his  army  until  he 
should  have  a  force  so  large  as  to  overwhelm  the  enemy. 
This  criticism  also  came  from  officers  and  soldiers  in  the  field 
who  had  somehow  come  to  look  upon  McClellan  as  the  one 
military  genius  of  war.  Backed  by  this  unaccountable  wor- 
ship of  the  soldiers,  McClellan  grew  every  day  more  arrogant 
and  felt  his  gorge  rise  with  every  suggestion  of  the  President 
that  he  move  upon  the  enemy.  His  troops  were  so  numerous, 
so  altogether  fit,  and  had  such  stores  of  arms  and  supplies, 
that  Lincoln's  patience  was  tried  to  the  limit  to  see  them 
inactive  in  their  miles  of  white  tents  before  the  Capitol, 
while  the  Southern  Armies  ravaged  the  fair  fields  of  Mary- 
land, Pennsylvania,  and  sometimes  threatened  Washington. 
At  one  time,  despairing  of  getting  McClellan  to  use  the 
magnificent  army  which  the  country  had  freely  given  him, 
Lincoln  said: 

"If  McClellan  is  not  going  to  use  his  army  I  should  like  to 
borrow  it  for  a  little  while." 

Could  he  have  done  so,  there  is  no  doubt  now  of  the  practi- 
cal use  to  which  he  would  have  put  it.  Not  being  able  to  take 
the  army  himself,  and  knowing  of  no  other  military  man  in 


204  Abraham  Lincoln 


the  service  sufficiently  equipped  with  experience  and  the 
confidence  of  the  country  with  which  to  replace  him,  the 
President  was  compelled  to  support  the  picturesque  McClel- 
lan  against  the  attacks  of  Congress.  As  often  as  the  demand 
was  made  of  the  President  to  take  supreme  command  away 
from  Little  Mack,  just  so  often  he  interrogated  the  critics 
with,  "Very  well,  but  who  would  you  put  in  his  place ?" 

The  answer  was  never  more  definite  than,  "Oh,  anybody, 
but  get  rid  of  him." 

McClellan  was  a  genius  for  organization.  He  took  the  raw 
recruits  from  the  farms  and  shops  and  speedily  made  them 
into  legions  which  showed  on  dress  parade  with  the  best 
troops  that  any  military  nation  had  ever  known.  They  were 
not  dress  parade  soldiers  either,  as  was  proved  whenever  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  get  into  action.  Lee,  Johnson,  Beau- 
regard, when  they  brought  their  armies  in  front  of  those 
volunteers  won  no  secure  victory.  They  found  their  northern 
brothers  as  brave,  active,  patient,  sturdy  and  self-sacrificing 
in  the  field  as  the  most  chivalric  of  the  Southern  Armies. 
McClellan  had  made  an  army  of  splendid  proportions  from 
the  men  given  him,  just  as  the  southern  generals  had  made 
such  armies  of  the  men  recruited  from  the  cotton  and  border 
states.  They  were  Americans  all,  and  gave  such  accounts  of 
themselves  upon  every  battle  field  of  the  war  as  to  make  them 
heroes  of  the  first  order  in  the  pages  of  history. 

What  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  lacked  was  a  Commander 
who  could  take  the  army  from  McClellan  and  use  it  with 
courage  and  skill.  Lincoln's  fable,  recited  to  Grant  when  he 
finally  gave  him  command  of  all  the  Union  Armies,  is  the 
most  illuminating  criticism  of  McClellan  that  has  been 
offered  in  all  the  volumes  that  have  been  written  pro  and  con 
concerning  that  unfortunate  general. 


Red  Fields  of  War  205 

"Once,"  said  Lincoln,  "the  animals  were  threatened  with 
other  animals  led  by  a  dragon  of  some  kind.  They  had  no 
leader  and  called  for  someone  to  step  forward  and  take  com- 
mand. The  monkey  offered  himself  with  the  proviso  that 
they  should  lengthen  his  tail.  This  was  done  and  he  went 
forth  but  soon  returned  to  say  that  his  tail  was  not  yet  long 
enough.  They  gave  him  more  tail  and  he  went  forth  again 
with  the  same  result.  He  kept  calling  for  more  tail  which  was 
furnished  him  until  at  last  the  tail  grew  so  long  and  heavy 
that  he  could  not  handle  it  on  the  ground  and  it  had  to  be 
wrapped  about  his  neck.  Then  he  found  himself  so  weighted 
down  that  he  could  not  move  at  all." 

McClellan  got  his  immense  army  but  had  not  the  genius  to 
command  it  to  any  degree  of  concerted  action.  He  lacked  the 
confidence  in  himself  and  the  determination  to  conquer 
against  odds,  which  are  among  the  chief  attributes  of  a  great 
commander.  In  his  attempt  to  argue  himself  out  of  this  state 
of  mind  he  began  by  crediting  his  opponents  with  superior 
forces.  The  more  he  was  urged  to  advance  the  more  he  re- 
sorted to  this  excuse.  He  was  always  going  to  move,  was 
always  on  the  point  of  winning  a  great  victory,  but  was  never 
quite  ready  because  he  was  outnumbered  by  the  enemy,  the 
weather  was  not  propitious,  he  needed  extra  guns  of  a  kind 
not  to  be  had  immediately.  His  reiteration  of  these  erroneous 
statements  finally  convinced  his  officers  and  men  that  they 
were  true  and  he  thus  kept  their  worship,  when  in  fact,  had 
they  known  the  truth,  they  would  have  lost  confidence  in  him. 

While  the  armies  in  the  West  were  winning,  and  the  armies 
of  the  East  were  fighting  indecisive  battles,  Farragut  ran  the 
blockade  at  New  Orleans  and  with  his  brave  sailors  captured 
the  city.  Other  adventurous  commanders  ran  the  blockades 
on  the  Mississippi,  until  the  river  was  open  from  its  source 


206  Abraham  Lincoln 


to  the  sea  with  the  exception  of  the  fortified  forts  at  Vicks- 
burg,  which  were  considered  impregnable  by  the  Confed- 
eracy. Lincoln,  with  the  eyes  of  a  seer,  his  heart  bleeding  in 
sympathy  with  the  mangled  and  dead  on  a  hundred  battle- 
fields, saw  all,  heard  all,  deliberated  sanely  on  all  that  was 
transpiring  over  that  tremendous  amphitheatre,  the  largest 
battlefield  the  world  up  to  that  time,  had  known.  He  found 
time  from  the  stress  and  strain  of  administration  affairs, 
from  the  press  of  political  appointment,  from  the  intrigues 
of  ambition,  and  from  the  pleas  of  distracted  relatives  for 
their  wounded,  imprisoned,  or  saddest  of  all,  deserters  con- 
demned to  be  shot,  to  become  familiar  with  the  movements 
of  the  armies  everywhere,  and  the  country  over  which  they 
were  acting  or  likely  to  act.  He  learned  the  personal  qualifica- 
tions of  officers,  big  and  little,  and  was,  before  the  end  of  the 
second  year  of  the  war,  so  proficient  in  his  task  of  mastering 
the  military  situation,  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  plans 
of  attack  and  defense  to  the  most  astute  commander.  He  saw 
that  the  states  were  kept  informed  of  the  needs  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  when  opportunity  presented  itself,  discussed 
with  citizens  from  distant  points,  the  issues  of  the  war,  speak- 
ing with  simplicity,  and  displaying  deep  sympathy  with  the 
hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  people.  He  did  not  remove  him- 
self from  the  masses  by  dress,  manner,  speech  or  reasoning. 
His  letters  to  politicians,  were  wise,  with  the  wisdom  gained 
in  those  old  Illinois  political  contests,  and  his  evident  pride 
in  bodily  strength  and  his  delight  in  hearty  humor  strength- 
ened the  chords  that  bound  him  to  the  great  pulsing  heart  of 
common  humanity,  as  these  same  qualities  had  made  him 
the  loved  and  respected  companion  of  the  pioneers  of  Gentry- 
ville.  Always  the  kingdom  he  sought  to  conquer  was  the 
human  heart. 


Red  Fields  of  War  207 

To  appreciate  Lincoln  truly  he  must  be  conceived  at  the 
outset  as  the  Universal  Man.  In  early  life,  the  companion  of 
the  coarse  and  vulgar,  he  was  ever  gentle  and  considerate, 
able  to  handle  pitch  without  being  defiled.  In  the  White 
House  occupying  the  highest  office  in  the  greatest  of  modern 
nations,  surrounded  by  sophistication  of  every  degree,  he 
never  became  sophisticated.  Given  unprecedented  power  he 
used  it  with  malice  toward  none,  charity  for  all.  Bitterly  used 
and  persecuted,  he  returned  no  bitterness,  resorted  to  no 
persecution.  Wiser  than  the  wisest,  firmer  than  the  firmest, 
gentler  than  the  gentlest,  plainer  than  the  plainest;  un- 
matched in  humor,  unwearied  in  patience,  neither  deceived 
by  pretension  nor  flattered  by  servility;  meeting  prince  and 
plebeian  upon  the  same  lofty  height  of  equality  in  heart  and 
soul,  respecting  the  opinions  of  others,  but  holding  firmly  to 
his  own,  slow  to  wrath  but  terrible  in  judgment.  He  moved 
in  the  National  cataclysm  like  the  central  figure  in  a  Greek 
Tragedy,  at  once  the  companion  and  the  ruling  spirit  of  the 
groping  folk  struggling  on  in  the  galling  harness  of  destiny 
to  some  well-appointed  end. 

Philosophers,  psychics,  mystics  have  written  volumes  to 
prove  the  universality  of  life  and  man's  closeknit  brother- 
hood with  all  nature's  phenomena.  But  it  was  not  the  study 
of  abstruse  doctrine  that  prompted  the  boy  Lincoln,  when 
the  family  were  emigrating  to  Indiana,  to  return  through  the 
icy  waters  of  a  river  to  bring  across  a  dog  that  had  been  left 
shivering  on  the  hither  shore;  or  to  leave  his  horse  when  rid- 
ing the  circuit  to  pull  a  hog  from  a  quagmire  and  set  it  free 
on  firm  ground;  or  to  stop  in  a  crowd  on  the  street  of  Gentry, 
ville  where  a  drunkard  was  being  made  sport  of,  to  soften 
the  hearts  of  the  practical  jokers  with  a  fable  and  to  walk 
away,  when  their  good  humor  was  established,  with  the  vie- 


208  Abraham  Lincoln 


tim  of  their  thoughtlessness  for  his  companion.  It  was  not  a 
study  of  doctrine  or  creed  that  prompted  him  to  throw  his 
long  arm  affectionately  over  the  shoulder  of  the  angry  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  and  pace  slowly  up  and  down  the  room 
in  silence  until  the  indomitable  will  of  Chase  had  melted  in 
the  warmth  of  his  Chief's  undoubted  affection.  It  was  Lin- 
coln's own  large  appreciation  of  the  truths  the  seers  in  all 
ages  had  proclaimed,  that  prompted  his  acts  of  sympathy, 
acts  recorded  in  hundreds  by  those  who  witnessed  them  or 
were  the  subjects  of  them,  and  which  made  him  faithful 
disciples  of  such  great  men  as  Douglas,  Seward,  Chase,  Stan- 
ton, in  parliamentary  life,  and  of  Grant,  Sherman,  Halleck, 
Butler  in  the  field,  and  of  Walt  Whitman  in  the  realm  of  the 
soul. 

It  was  his  large  sympathy  with  the  life  of  all  created  things 
that  inspired  his  divine  utterance,  "In  the  right  to  eat  the 
bread  his  hands  have  earned,  the  Negro  is  my  equal,  and  the 
equal  of  Judge  Douglas  or  of  any  man."  It  was  this  large, 
clear  understanding  of  the  sacredness  of  life,  and  the  weak- 
ness as  well  as  the  strength  of  the  human  will,  that  made  him 
so  ready  to  save  the  soldier  boy  who  had  fallen  asleep  on 
guard  or  even  deserted  on  the  field  of  battle.  He  despised 
cowardice.  He  appreciated  courage.  But  he  knew  men.  He 
knew  that  one  who  would,  under  certain  circumstances,  fail 
to  live  up  to  his  highest  conception  of  duty,  under  different 
circumstances  might  rise  above  it.  He  knew  the  necessity  of 
Divine  support,  because  he  found  himself  so  often  in  need 
of  it,  so  often  tempted  beyond  his  own  human  powers,  and  he 
acknowledged  his  indebtedness  to  such  help  and  guidance  in 
every  state  document  and  in  every  letter  of  sympathy  and 
condolence  written  to  others  in  affliction.  Into  his  own  inti- 
mate life  there  were  crowded  from  childhood  experiences  of 


JRed  Fields  of  War  209 

tragic  depth  and  fateful  sequence.  And  in  those  dark  hours 
when  the  red  fields  of  battle  swam  before  his  eyes,  and  while 
his  heart  was  wrung  with  pity  and  horror,  in  a  darkened 
chamber  of  the  White  House,  bearing  the  fears  and  woes  of  a 
great  Nation,  he  walked  through  the  valley  of  shadow  by 
the  side  of  his  son  and  playmate,  and  the  tears  that  dimmed 
his  eyes  for  the  griefs  of  others  were  mingled  with  the  grief 
of  his  own  irremedial  loss. 

Yet  withal  he  never  faltered.  He  faced  National  and  in- 
dividual crises  with  a  courage  and  fortitude  that  made  him 
colossal  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  stood  near  him  during  those 
awful  days.  Nicolay,  his  Private  Secretary,  says  that  he  bore 
a  front  so  brave  and  a  spirit  so  sublime  that  even  the  Mem- 
bers of  his  Cabinet  who  were  most  often  with  him  were  in- 
spired with  his  calm  and  grew  in  faith  to  be  finer  and  truer 
men.  He  seems  never  to  have  forgotten  that  as  head  of  the 
Nation,  his  mission  was  to  hold  up  to  all  those  associated 
with  him  in  the  great  fight  the  light  of  loyalty  to  that  cause 
which  he  conceived  to  be  the  cause  of  humanity.  Whether  it 
was  a  backwoods  delegation  come  to  shake  hands  with  their 
old  friend  and  neighbor,  a  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children, 
a  group  of  politicians,  an  army  council,  a  Cabinet  meeting, 
or  a  wounded  soldier  on  a  hospital  cot,  he  bore  himself  like  a 
leader  whose  powers  were  centered  in  one  supreme  endeavor. 
Nor  did  he  find  fault  with  fate,  no  matter  how  he  might  be 
flaunted.  He  bore  with  the  frailties  and  vanities  of  others, 
either  civil  or  military,  without  complaint  and  with  no  wish 
to  return  upon  them.  Whatever  the  offense,  he  was  not 
offended. 

On  one  occasion  General  McClellan  kept  him  waiting  in 
the  anteroom  of  his  headquarters  for  nearly  an  hour  after  the 
President  had  sent  in  his  card,  and  coming  out  finally  excused 


210  Abraham  Lincoln 


himself  as  having  some  immediate  duty  to  perform  and  went 
away  leaving  the  President  without  an  interview.  A  corre- 
spondent who  was  witness  to  this  lack  of  breeding  and  show 
of  insubordination  on  the  part  of  the  General  to  his  Chief, 
exclaimed  with  heat: 

"How  can  you  put  up  with  it?" 

Lincoln  said  quietly,  "I'll  hold  Mack's  horse  for  him  if 
only  he  will  win  battles." 

Lincoln  was  as  brave  physically  as  he  was  spiritually. 
General  Butler  gives  an  account  of  Lincoln's  visit  to  his 
headquarters.  The  President  desired  to  ride  along  the  lines 
and  see  the  soldiers. 

"  I  happened  to  have  a  very  tall,  easy-riding,  pacing  horse 
and  as  the  President  was  rather  long-legged  I  tendered  him 
the  use  of  it  while  I  rode  beside  him  on  a  pony.  He  was 
dressed  as  was  his  custom,  in  a  black  suit,  and  tall  silk  hat. 
As  there  rode  on  the  other  side  of  him  at  first  Mr.  Fox,  the 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  was  not  more  than  five 
feet  six,  Mr.  Lincoln  stood  out  as  the  central  figure  of  the 
group.  When  we  got  to  the  line  of  intrenchments,  from  which 
the  line  of  rebel  pickets  was  not  more  than  300  yards,  he 
towered  high  above  the  works,  and  as  we  came  to  the  several 
encampments  the  boys  all  turned  out  and  cheered  lustily. 
The  enemy's  attention  was  directed  to  the  performance,  and 
with  the  glass  it  could  be  plainly  seen  that  the  eyes  of  their 
officers  were  fastened  upon  Lincoln. 

"cLet  us  ride  on  the  side  next  to  the  enemy,  Mr.  President,' 
said  Butler.  You  are  in  fair  rifle  shot  of  them  and  they  may 
open  fire;  and  they  must  know  you,  being  the  only  person 
not  in  uniform,  and  the  cheering  of  the  troops  directs  their 
attention  to  you.' 

"'Oh,  no/  he  said,  laughing,  'the  Commander-in-Chief 


Red  Fields  of  War  211 

of  the  Army  must  not  show  any  cowardice  in  the  presence  of 
his  soldiers,  whatever  he  may  feel/ 

"And  he  insisted  upon  riding  the  whole  six  miles,  which 
was  about  the  length  of  my  intrenchments,  in  that  position." 

Having  finished  the  ride  the  President  turned  off  to  visit 
the  hospitals,  and  General  Butler  recounts  how  the  President 
passed  through  all  the  wards,  "stopping  and  speaking  very 
kindly  to  some  of  the  poor  fellows  as  they  lay  on  their  cots 
and  occasionally  administering  words  of  commendation  to 
the  ward  master.  Sometimes  when  reaching  a  patient  who 
showed  much  suffering,  the  President's  eyes  would  glisten 
with  tears.  The  effect  of  his  presence  upon  those  sick  men 
was  wonderful  and  his  visit  did  great  good,  for  there  was  no 
medicine  which  could  equal  the  cheerfulness  he  so  largely 
inspired." 

General  Butler  accompanied  the  President  to  Fort  Monroe 
where  they  had  dinner.  The  General,  noticing  that  the  Presi- 
dent was  preoccupied  and  ate  little  of  the  good  dinner  pro- 
vided, said,  "I  hope  you  are  not  unwell;  you  do  not  eat,  Mr. 
President?" 

"I  am  well  enough,"  was  the  reply,  "but  would  to  God 
this  dinner  or  provisions  like  it  were  with  our  poor  prisoners 
in  Andersonville." 

Butler  was  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  had  several  argu- 
ments with  the  President,  who,  he  says,  frequently  com- 
muted sentences  of  death.  One  day  Butler  took  a  record  of  a 
court  martial  wherein  he  had  approved  a  sentence  of  death 
but  upon  reflection  wished  to  have  the  sentence  revoked.  He 
called  upon  the  President,  laid  the  record  down  before  him, 
and  in  a  few  words  explained  it.  The  President  looked  up  and 
said:  "You  asking  me  to  pardon  some  poor  fellow!  Give  me 
that  pen." 


212  Abraham  Lincoln 


"And,"  concludes  Butler,  "in  less  time  than  I  can  tell  it 
the  pardon  was  ordered  without  further  investigation. " 

Mr.  Lincoln  found  time  to  console  many  people  to  whom 
the  war  brought  its  personal  tragedy.  Among  the  rarest  and 
dearest  of  these  is  a  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  rare  for  its 
excellence  as  a  prose  composition,  and  dear,  not  only  to  the 
one  to  whom  it  is  addressed  but  to  all  the  world  for  its  perfect 
expression  of  thought  and  feeling.  He  wrote: 

"Dear  Madam:  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War 
Department  a  statement  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Massa- 
chusetts that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died 
gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless 
must  be  any  words  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile 
you  from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  cannot 
refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be 
found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died  to  save.  I  pray 
that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your 
bereavement  and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of 
the  loved  and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours 
to  have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 
Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Abraham  Lincoln." 

The  war  ground  on.  North  and  South  poured  their  best 
manhood  into  the  ever-depleting  ranks.  Field  after  field, 
hotly  contested,  revealed  heroism  born  of  the  American  spirit 
not  unsurpassed  by  the  heroism  of  the  days  of  ancient  Greece. 
Great  armies  swung  back  and  forth  through  the  valleys  be- 
tween Washington  and  Richmond.  Those  of  the  Confederacy 
under  the  general  command  of  Lee  with  skilled  and  heroic 
lieutenants  supporting  him  and  all  acting  in  concert,  had  one 
end  in  view — to  win  decisively  on  some  great  battlefield  with 
the  hope  of  opening  a  way  to  the  Capital  of  the  Union.  The 


Ifed  Fields  of  Way  213 

armies  of  the  North  under  McClellan,  considerably  out- 
numbering the  enemy,  lacked  the  unity  of  leadership  which 
made  the  Confederate  troops  so  formidable.  They  also 
labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  on  the  defensive 
most  of  the  time.  McClellan  had  no  superior  in  making  an 
army  fit,  but  was  denied  the  vision  to  contemplate  actions 
en  masse  with  superior  calmness  and  the  moral  courage  to 
stake  all  on  a  single  important  engagement.  The  dogged 
determination  of  Grant  in  the  West  finally  put  Vicksburg 
under  siege.  When  it  fell,  The  Father  of  Waters,  as  Lincoln 
said,  once  more  flowed  unobstructed  to  the  sea,  and  the 
President  summoned  the  new  star  in  the  military  skies  to 
Washington  and  gave  him  command  of  all  the  Union  troops 
with  orders  to  take  Richmond.  Meanwhile  Meade  won  the 
great  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  made  the  Capital  safe  from 
invasion.  McClellan's  Peninsular  Campaign  was  abandoned 
and  Grant  set  about  the  overthrow  of  Lee  by  a  direct  move- 
ment toward  Richmond,  the  Capital  of  the  Confederacy. 

In  the  White  House  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  Members 
carried  on  the  Civil  Government,  supplied  the  never  ceasing 
call  for  men  and  the  money,  two  millions  a  day,  for  their 
equipment  and  support.  Another  election  was  approaching 
and  ambitious  men  looked  with  eager  eyes  on  the  Presiden- 
tial Chair.  Secretary  Chase  had  already  inaugurated  a  cam- 
paign for  the  nomination.  When  Lincoln's  advisers  re- 
proached him  for  keeping  a  man  in  his  Cabinet  who  was 
using  his  office  for  political  ends  in  competition  with  his 
Chief,  the  President  replied  that  Chase  was  a  big  man,  bigger 
by  half  than  any  man  he  had  ever  known,  and  if  the  people 
wanted  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  President,  they 
should  have  him.  All  he  asked  of  Chase  was  his  best  en- 
deavors to  save  the  Union.  That  having  been  accomplished 
other  things  would  adjust  themselves. 


214  Abraham  Lincoln 


Not  that  Lincoln  did  not  desire  re-election.  He  had  given 
his  whole  soul  to  the  task  of  saving  the  Republic  for  the 
people.  The  end  was  now  certain.  The  preponderance  of  men 
and  means  in  the  United  States,  with  such  a  military  machine 
as  had  at  last  been  built  up  and  got  under  way,  must  cer- 
tainly crush  the  forces  of  the  Confederacy  now  reduced  to  the 
last  extremities  for  money,  supplies  and  munitions,  and  so 
shut  off  from  the  world  by  a  perfect  blockade  that  recogni- 
tion from  any  foreign  power  was  despaired  of.  But  the  heroic 
spirit  of  the  South  had  lost  none  of  its  fire  and  determination. 
It  still  glowed  with  all  the  zeal  for  its  mistaken  ideal  that  in 
'6i  had  swept  it  into  rebellion.  Love  of  home  gave  ever 
renewed  strength  to  its  troops  and  caused  their  hearts  to 
swell  with  hot  pride  and  resentment  against  the  approach  of 
an  invading  army.  As  Lincoln  had  said  in  his  Cincinnati 
speech  before  his  election,  the  sons  of  the  South  and  the  sons 
of  the  North  were  equally  brave  and  chivalrous.  The  side 
that  could  count  the  greatest  numbers  must  win  in  the  end. 
But  the  victors  would  have  conquered  a  foe  equally  brave, 
equally  generous,  equally  fertile  in  expedients — their  brother 
Americans. 

It  was  this  deep,  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  noble- 
ness of  American  character  that  inspired  those  magnificent 
Inaugurals,  and  those  many  brave  appeals  to  the  men  of  the 
South  to  meditate  upon  the  issue,  to  put  aside  passion  and 
deliberate.  "  Come  and  let  us  reason  together,"  was  the  sub- 
stance of  his  every  utterance  to  the  men  of  the  South.  But 
when  at  last  there  was  no  longer  any  hope  for  reconciliation, 
when  both  sides  had  mustered  the  largest  armies  of  history 
and  were  joined  in  a  death  grapple  on  many  bloody  fields,  he 
believed  in  striking  blows  of  force,  and  like  the  skilled 
wrestler  he  was,  to  follow  up  every  advantage  gained  in  at- 


Red  Fields  of  War  215 

tack.  He  respected  his  antagonist  as  much  or  more  than 
McClellan  had,  but  unlike  McClellan  he  did  not  overrate  his 
enemy's  prowess  nor  underrate  his  own. 

It  was  his  cultivated  judgment  that  helped  him  mightily 
in  weighing  the  chances  for  success,  both  in  the  field  of  war 
and  the  field  of  administration.  Whether  it  were  Lee  or 
Beauregard  or  Stonewall  Jackson  he  was  facing,  or  Fre- 
mont or  McClellan  or  Chase  who  were  gathering  their  forces 
to  secure  their  ascendancy  and  his  own  defeat,  he  measured 
their  qualities,  their  characters,  their  abilities,  the  justice  of 
their  cause  for  or  against  his  own,  and  stood  his  ground,  alert, 
active,  receptive,  calm  with  a  sense  of  superior  power  born 
of  the  clear  knowledge  that  he  was  in  the  right  and  that  his 
training  for  such  contests  had  been  going  on  since  first  he 
toddled  a  barefoot  child  over  the  puncheon  floor  of  the  cabin 
and  listened  to  the  simple  but  lofty  teachings  of  his  gentle 
mother. 

And  still  the  war  ground  on.  Grant,  hanging  on  the  flanks 
of  Lee's  withdrawing  army,  forced  the  only  general  of  the 
era  worthy  to  oppose  him  slowly  backward  until  the  fall  of 
Richmond  was  easily  prophesied.  Sherman  started  from 
Atlanta  on  his  famous  march  to  the  sea. 

When  a  crowd  about  the  Capitol  asked  the  President, 
"What  news  from  Sherman ?" 

The  President  replied,  "We  have  no  recent  advices.  We 
know  where  he  went  in  but  we  cannot  tell  where  he  is  going 
to  come  out," — one  of  those  happy  truths  that  causes  the 
gloomy  spirits  of  a  crowd  to  disperse  and  in  their  stead  the 
smiles  of  hope  appear. 

The  battlefield  of  Gettysburg  was  dedicated  as  a  soldier's 
burying  ground  and  the  President  delivered  on  that  occasion 
the  greatest  historic  document  and  most  heartfelt  song  of 


216  Abraham  Lincoln 


sacrificial  heroism  and  call  to  perseverance  in  the  right,  com- 
pressed into  the  smallest  compass,  that  has  ever  stamped  the 
pages  of  Literature. 

The  election  of  '64  came  and  the  sad  faced  man  in  the 
White  House  was  given  the  assurance  which  must  have  been 
doubly  sweet  to  his  over  troubled  heart,  that  the  Great  Plain 
People  believed  in  him,  respected  him,  loved  him,  and  under- 
stood him  to  have  fought  for  them,  to  be  still  fighting  for 
them,  and  through  them  for  all  the  great  plain  people  of  the 
world.  Men  who  had  been  heroes  of  the  hour,  Chase,  Mc- 
Clellan,  Fremont,  men  whom  he  had  signally  honored  and 
trusted,  but  who  were  not  of  that  large-souled  nature  to 
understand  him  nor  the  people  whom  he  loved  and  trusted, 
found  too  late  that  those  people  whose  natures  they  failed  to 
sound  had  the  broader  vision;  they  found  themselves  set 
gently  aside.  The  people  not  forgetting  their  worth  and  many 
achievements  but  measuring  them  by  the  worth  and  achieve- 
ments of  Lincoln,  had  found  them  wanting  in  those  qualities 
of  nobility  which  proclaimed  his  greatness.  So  they  gave  him 
their  suffrages,  unanimous  at  nomination  and  by  tremendous 
majorities  at  the  election.  He  had  been  faithful,  not  only  in 
great  things,  but  in  little  things,  they  said.  Let  him  complete 
the  work. 

His  second  Inaugural  attained  the  highest  point  in  Lin- 
coln's genius  for  expressing  universal  truths  and  at  the  same 
time  revealed  that  the  demands  of  a  terrible  war  with  all  its 
hardening  influences  and  fearful  responsibilities,  had  not 
hardened  his  heart  but  had  softened  it  and  filled  it  to  over- 
flowing with  love  for  his  fellowmen.  "With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all" — so  he  stood  and  so  he  spoke,  not 
words  of  sublimity  and  beauty  only,  but  words  out  of  the 
depths  of  his  being,  the  revelation  of  himself  to  all  mankind. 


Red  Fields  of  War  217 

He  revealed  himself  on  November  9th  in  answer  to  a  sere- 
nade: "I  am  thankful  to  God  for  this  approval  of  the  people; 
but,  while  deeply  grateful  for  this  mark  of  their  confidence  in 
me,  if  I  know  my  heart,  my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint 
of  personal  triumph.  I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one 
opposed  to  me.  It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph  over  any 
one,  but  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evidence  of  the 
people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free  government  and  the 
rights  of  humanity." 

Again  on  November  10th,  he  responds:  "It  has  long  been  a 
grave  question  whether  any  government,  not  too  strong  for 
the  liberties  of  its  people,  can  be  strong  enough  to  maintain 
its  existence  in  great  emergencies.  On  this  point  the  present 
rebellion  brought  our  Republic  to  a  severe  test,  and  a  presi- 
dential election  occurring  in  regular  course  during  the  rebel- 
lion, added  not  a  little  to  the  strain. 

"If  the  loyal  people  united  were  put  to  the  utmost  of  their 
strength  by  the  rebellion,  must  they  not  fail  when  divided 
and  partially  paralyzed  by  a  political  war  among  themselves  ? 
But  the  election  was  a  necessity.  We  cannot  have  free  govern- 
ment without  elections;  and  if  the  rebellion  could  force  us  to 
forego  or  postpone  a  national  election,  it  might  fairly  claim 
to  have  already  conquered  and  ruined  us.  The  strife  of  the 
election  is  but  human  nature  practically  applied  to  the  facts 
of  the  case.  What  has  occurred  in  this  case  must  ever  recur  in 
similar  cases.  Human  nature  will  not  change.  In  any  future 
great  national  trial,  compared  with  the  men  of  this,  we  shall 
have  as  weak  and  as  strong,  as  silly  and  as  wise,  as  bad  and  as 
good.  Let  us,  therefore,  study  the  incidents  of  this  as  philos- 
ophy to  learn  wisdom  from,  and  none  of  them  as  wrongs  to  be 
revenged.  But  the  election,  along  with  its  incidental  and  un- 
desirable strife,  has  done  good  too.  It  has  demonstrated  that 


218 


Abraham  Lincoln 


a  peopled  government  can  sustain  a  national  election  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  civil  war.  Until  now,  it  has  not  been  known  to 
the  world  that  this  is  a  possibility.  It  shows  also,  how  sound 
and  how  strong  we  still  are.  It  shows  that,  even  among  can- 
didates of  the  same  Party,  he  who  is  most  devoted  to  the 
Union  and  most  opposed  to  treason  can  receive  most  of  the 
people's  votes.  It  shows,  also,  to  the  extent  yet  unknown, 
that  we  have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war 
began.  Gold  is  good  in  its  place,  but  living,  brave,  patriotic 
men  are  better  than  gold. 

"But  the  rebellion  continues,  and  now  that  the  election  is 
over,  may  not  all  having  a  common  interest  reunite  in  a  com- 
mon effort  to  save  our  common  country?  For  my  own  part,  I 
have  striven  and  shall  strive  to  avoid  placing  any  obstacle  in 
the  way.  So  long  as  I  have  been  here  I  have  not  willingly 
planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.  While  I  am  deeply  sen- 
sible to  the  high  compliment  of  a  re-election,  and  duly  grateful 
as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God  for  having  directed  my  country- 
men to  a  right  conclusion,  as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it 
adds  nothing  to  my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may  be 
disappointed  or  pained  by  the  result. 

"May  I  ask  those  who  have  not  differed  from  me  to  join 
with  me  in  this  same  spirit  towards  those  who  have?  And  now 
let  me  close  by  asking  three  hearty  cheers  for  our  brave 
soldiers  and  seamen  and  their  gallant  and  skillful  commanders. " 

Richmond  fell.  At  Appomattox,  under  the  famous  apple 
tree,  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant  and  received  in  return  the 
grandest  benison  ever  bestowed  by  a  conqueror  on  a  fallen 
foe!  "Let  us  have  peace." 

Lincoln  visited  the  Capital  of  the  fallen  Confederacy,  not 
as  a  conquering  hero  bringing  chains  of  servitude  and  humili- 
ation but  as  a  man  of  mercy  appearing  to  soothe  the  fears  and 


Kfid  Fields  of  War  219 

quell  the  anguish  of  breaking  hearts.  Correspondents  accom- 
panying the  President's  party  tell  of  Lincoln's  remarkable 
simplicity,  his  sad,  fatherly  bearing  as  he  viewed  the  wreck 
and  devastation  of  the  beautiful  old  city,  but  most  of  all  of 
the  overflowing  adoration  of  the  Negroes  who  crowded  about 
"Massa  Linkum,"  shouting  "Glory!  Glory!"  "Bress  de 
Lord!  Bress  de  Lord!" 

Their  Moses  who  had  led  them  out  of  the  wilderness  was 
before  them.  The  tropical  exuberance  of  their  joy  knew  no 
bounds.  They  were  drunk  with  ecstasy.  They  leaped  and  ran 
for  joy,  like  the  lame  man  healed  by  the  Nazarene,  and  with 
far  more  reason.  They  kissed  one  another,  hugged  their 
nearest  fellow  to  their  hearts,  surging  in  groups  about  the 
tall,  sad  man  contemplating  them  with  a  countenance  of 
spiritual  tenderness. 

Charles  Carleton  Coffin  tells  of  one  old  Negro  wearing  a 
few  rags,  "whose  white,  crisp  hair  appeared  through  his 
crownless  straw  hat,"  who  lifted  the  hat,  bared  his  head, 
kneeled  upon  the  ground,  clasped  his  hands  and  cried,  "May 
de  good  Lord  bress  and  keep  you  safe,  Massa  President 
Linkum."  Mr.  Lincoln  lifted  his  own  hat  and  bowed  to  the 
old  man.  The  moisture  gathered  in  his  eyes.  He  brushed  the 
tears  away  and  the  procession  moved  on. 

With  such  scenes  frequently  occurring,  the  President  con- 
cluded his  visit.  He  had  received  the  fullest  measure  of  return 
for  his  life-long  devotion  to  the  liberty  of  man,  the  unmeas- 
ured blessings  of  those  humble  freemen.  His  work  was  done. 
A  few  days  and  the  news  of  his  assassination  spread  like  a 
dark  cloud  over  all  the  land.  A  world  halted  to  lay  tribute  on 
his  grave.  The  Captain  of  the  Army  of  Human  Rights  had 
departed.  The  world  was  hushed  and  still. 


Chapter  XIX 


HUMANITY  is  ever  bound  to  a  mighty  struggle  for 
the  preservation  of  those  ideals  it  has  won  from  its 
grosser  passions  through  the  action  of  its  God-like 
attributes.  History  records  nothing  but  the  initial  scenes  and 
the  culminating  climaxes  in  this  endless  drama.  It  has  its  play- 
ful humors,  its  periods  of  peaceful  advance,  its  brief  hours  of 
joy  and  bliss,  its  wars  of  passion  and  its  sublime,  if  solemn, 
closes.  The  Seasons  seem  to  have  been  instituted  divinely  for 
the  instruction  of  man  so  that  he  may  be  kept  to  the  task  of 
bringing  back  from  the  Winter  of  destruction,  the  bloom  of 
Spring,  the  Summer  of  development,  and  the  Fall  of  fruitage. 
From  its  point  of  vantage  above  these  phenomena  of  Nature, 
humanity  may  see  its  own  struggle  mirrored  and  take  council 
of  that  Book  of  Life  to  persevere  under  all  circumstances, 
confident  that  if  Nature  can  redeem  herself  from  seeming 
annual  death  and  destruction,  man,  given  not  only  superior 
powers  of  strength  and  resistance,  but  a  rational  ability  to 
use  his  faculties  in  his  own  much  higher  field  of  the  seasons 
of  the  mind,  can  also  redeem  himself. 

But  mankind,  like  nature  in  its  physical  aspects,  needs  and 
must  have  help  and  guidance  from  some  Superior  Intelligence 
to  be  led  upon  a  higher  way  to  greater  usefulness  and  beauty. 
The  rose  has  been  glorified  by  the  application  of  principles 


Lincoln  a  Present  Power  221 

to  its  primal  nature,  principles  discovered  and  developed  by- 
man's  powers  of  rational  comparison  and  application  of  laws 
inherent  in  the  constitution  of  the  rose  itself.  This  is  as  true 
in  the  animal  as  in  the  floral  kingdom.  In  another  direction 
man  has  applied  the  discovery  of  these  principles  so  that  he 
has  captured  and  made  his  servants  those  higher  and  still 
little  known  so-called  finer  forces.  Man  stands  on  a  middle 
ground,  in  close  sympathy  with  the  living  forms  of  nature, 
from  the  molecule  of  animal  life  and  the  tiny  seed  in  vege- 
table life,  to  the  comrade  that  walks  at  his  elbow  and  is  cog- 
nizant of  the  feelings  of  himself  and  others.  He  is  also  on  the 
borderland  of  the  mysterious,  dealing  with  those  elements 
that  constitute  the  hidden  forces  of  the  universe.  The  former 
he  develops  to  higher  forms  of  existence,  the  latter  he  lays 
hold  of  and  harnesses  to  assist  him  in  his  endeavors  to  make  a 
better  and  a  more  beautiful  world. 

Man  has  ideas,  hopes  and  aspirations  for  himself  and  his 
race.  But  he  is  ever  developing,  not  a  perfectly  developed 
being.  He  finds  himself  everywhere  in  need  of  a  guide  to  ad- 
vancement. As  yet  he  is  able  to  see  but  as  through  a  glass 
darkly.  Often  he  imagines  himself  pursuing  a  road  that  will 
lead  to  happiness  for  himself  and  others,  only  to  discover 
that  he  has  been  following  a  blind  trail  which  leads  into  a 
cave  of  gloom,  or  at  least  into  the  house  of  disappointment. 
Individually,  or  as  groups  or  nations,  this  is  the  record  from 
ancient  Egypt  until  the  present  hour.  But  as  out  of  fruit  cul- 
tivation there  comes  at  times  a  superior  and  individual  type, 
conforming  in  all  ways  to  its  ancestral  family,  but  of  finer 
flavor  and  more  delicate  substance  than  has  hitherto  been 
known,  so  with  the  family  of  man,  there  occasionally  emerges 
from  the  mass  a  being  of  superior  mould,  with  keener  appre- 
ciation of  the  things  of  life  and  greater  powers  of  leadership. 


222  Abraham  Lincoln 


If  he  be  gifted  with  those  qualities  which  make  for  greatness 
alone,  he  may  rise  to  eminence,  but  his  works  may  be  detri- 
mental to  the  general  advancement  of  mankind  and  he  may 
leave  the  world,  having  contributed  little  or  nothing  to  its 
happiness.  If  he  is  good  as  well  as  great,  then  he  proves  a 
blessing,  and  his  thoughts  and  acts  become  inspirations  to  all 
who  may  come  after  him. 

Abraham  Lincoln  may  be  said  to  have  been  born  good  and 
great.  He  can  hardly  be  accounted  for  in  any  other  way.  He 
saw  the  light  on  the  borderline  between  the  free  and  slave 
states.  His  youthful  ears  were  assailed  by  the  arguments  of 
men  of  both  parties.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  the  same  envi- 
ronment. From  the  time  he  was  old  enough  to  reason  at  all, 
until  he  gave  up  his  life  on  the  altar  of  truth  and  justice,  he 
was  beset  by  difficulties  which  must  have  appalled  a  soul  not 
great  in  itself.  He  had  none  of  the  advantages  of  the  univer- 
sities, or  of  private  instructors  whose  studies  had  taken  them 
to  the  heights  of  larger  speculation.  His  companions  were 
rude  and  uncultured.  He  met  with  defeat  and  disappoint- 
ment at  the  outset  of  every  endeavor  to  find  a  firm  footing 
for  rational  thought  and  action.  Yet  out  of  each  of  these 
defeats,  he  gained  the  sweets  of  victory.  Out  of  adversity  he 
drew  the  milk  upon  which  his  hungry  mind  and  soul  fed,  and 
so  found  strength  for  other  endeavors.  Never  was  man  tried 
more  frequently  and  under  greater  difficulties.  Never  did 
man  face  those  trials  with  greater  courage  and  equanimity. 
Never  was  man  more  continually  offered  the  easiest  way. 
And  never  was  man  less  inclined  to  succumb  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  be  satisfied  with  the  life  of  his  careless  fellows,  nor 
more  ambitious  to  rise  and  to  lift  them  with  him  to  the 
heights. 

That  he  did  rise,  that  he  did  lift,  not  only  the  companions 


Lincoln  a  Present  Power  223 

of  his  days,  but  the  broader  life  of  the  Nation,  and  finally  the 
life  of  the  whole  world,  none  will  deny.  That  he  came  to  the 
world  with  a  soul  already  prepared  for  the  work,  those  who 
will,  may  doubt,  but  that  from  his  first  act  to  his  last  he  was 
governed  by  such  a  soul,  cannot  in  reason  be  denied. 

What  was  Lincoln's  work  and  how  did  he  accomplish  it? 
Was  it  to  free  the  slaves  ?  Was  it  to  save  the  Union  ?  Was  it 
not  rather  to  demonstrate  to  his  own  time,  and  to  all  time, 
the  dignity  of  manhood,  the  supreme  duty  of  man  to  his  fel- 
lows? In  his  strong  arms  he  gathered  all  races  of  men  and  all 
classes  of  men.  King  or  commoner,  he  took  them  to  his 
bosom.  In  his  great  heart  he  gave  them  a  home  and  the  food 
of  love.  He  hated  injustice  and  institutions  and  conventions 
founded  on  injustice.  He  saw  no  beauty  in  silken  robes 
bought  with  the  sweat  of  unpaid  labor.  He  saw  no  glory  in  a 
throne  on  which  sat  a  monarch  who  ate  the  bread  of  his  toil- 
ing subjects  and  gave  them  a  stone.  He  saw  no  religion  in  the 
pulpit  where  eternal  salvation  was  proclaimed,  and  present 
oppression  upheld  and  practiced.  He  saw  no  delicacy  in  the 
dainty  hand  on  which  shone  the  jewels  dug  from  a  mine  by 
serfs  scourged  to  their  tasks.  He  saw  no  permanency  in  politi- 
cal institutions  which  did  not  consider  first  of  all  and  finally 
the  laborer  by  whose  product  the  institution  was  sustained. 
He  hated  cant  and  hypocrisy.  He  despised  delicacy  that  was 
indelicate,  refinement  which  coarsened  the  refiner,  pity  that 
degraded  the  subject  of  pity,  and  sophistry  that  proclaimed 
a  principle  for  wrong,  equal  to  the  principle  for  right.  He 
hated  wrong  with  the  healthy  hatred  of  a  great  intelligence 
trained  in  a  thousand  fierce  encounters  to  depend  upon  itself. 
Injustice  he  denied  any  place  in  the  scheme  of  life.  Yet  intol- 
erance was  not  an  element  in  his  nature.  It  was  requisite  to 
his  reasoning,  not  rooted  in  it.  Love  was  the  keynote  of  his 


224  Abraham  Lincoln 


being.  He  could  not  live  without  love.  He  could  not  pass  a 
day  without  some  touch  of  hand,  some  glance  of  eye,  some 
gesture,  which  might  convey  his  sympathy  for  a  companion, 
a  friend,  or  it  might  be  a  stranger  who  his  lively  sense  of  sor- 
row told  him  was  in  need  of  such  friendly  ministration.  His 
compassion  did  not  rest  with  the  individual  but  shone  forth 
like  the  sun  upon  the  whole  world. 

This  universal  sympathy  made  Lincoln  the  great  exemplar 
of  Democracy.  Right  with  him  was  not  a  principle  composed 
by  man,  but  the  fundamental  corner  stone  in  the  temple  of 
God.  To  him,  loyalty  to  truth  meant  loyalty  to  God.  If  a  man 
were  not  honest,  how  could  he  approach  the  Throne  of 
Honesty?  If  a  man  were  not  loving  how  could  he  kneel  before 
the  Throne  of  Love?  If  a  man  were  not  just  how  could  he 
pray  for  justice?  If  a  man  were  not  loyal,  how  could  he  believe 
in  loyalty  or  hope  to  profit  by  it? 

Loyalty  to  Truth  in  all  things,  that  was  Lincoln's  ruling 
motive.  The  urge  of  a  great  ideal  was  ever  active  in  his  heart, 
crowding  his  brain  and  glowing  from  his  eyes.  Loyal  to  him- 
self, loyal  to  his  family,  loyal  to  man,  loyal  to  the  Union, 
loyal  to  God. 

Living  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  his 
unblemished  loyalty  prompted  him  to  adhere  firmly  to  every 
tenet  of  that  instrument.  Convinced  that  freedom  was  the 
God-given  right  of  every  man,  he  was  yet  willing  to  leave 
slavery  in  those  states  where  the  Constitution  had  left  it;  but 
he  fought  with  all  his  power  against  introducing  it  into  the 
Territories  from  which  the  Constitution  had  excluded  it.  Im- 
bued with  the  idea  that  good  is  permanent  and  evil  tem- 
porary, he  held  that  slavery  confined  to  the  original  slave 
states  must  perish  of  its  own  volition.  But  when  the  time 
came  for  a  choice  as  to  emancipating  the  slaves  by  the 


Lincoln  a  Present  Power  225 

authority  granted  him  under  the  Constitution  as  Comman- 
der-in-Chief of  the  United  States  Army  in  time  of  war,  he 
embraced  it,  and  issued  a  document  richer  in  blessings  to  the 
human  race  than  the  Constitution  itself. 

Lincoln  was  loyal  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Government. 
He  was  honest  in  his  interpretation  of  it,  and  the  destiny  that 
shapes  our  ends  made  him  the  author  of  another  proclama- 
tion of  freedom  of  higher  import  still.  Groups  of  men  as- 
sembled to  compose  the  Magna  Charta,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Lincoln  alone,  without  advice,  conceived,  brought  forth  and 
established  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  the  religion  of 
free  labor,  a  document  of  such  inherent  force  as  to  crowd  out 
the  lie  in  the  Declaration  confirmed  in  the  Constitution 
which,  while  proclaimed  all  men  born  free  and  equal,  yet 
made  provision  for  the  ownership  of  men  in  the  states  where 
slavery  already  existed.  Then  sounding  a  still  loftier  note,  he 
gave  voice  to  the  Gettysburg  Address  which  proclaims  the 
freedom  of  all  men,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  White,  Red 
and  Black,  from  the  shackles  of  selfishness,  leading  them  to 
move  like  gods  in  a  world  of  universal  helpfulness. 

Of  all  those  who  have  achieved  distinction  by  the  popular 
vote  of  the  people,  Lincoln  is  in  himself  the  best  example  of 
freedom.  Men  generally  are  owned  by  their  material  posses- 
sions or  by  their  desires  for  sensual  gratification.  Lincoln, 
reared  among  people  whose  principal  ambition  was  to  own 
land,  invested  his  meager  savings  in  books  and  found  in  the 
pages  of  Epictetus,  himself  a  Greek  slave,  the  proclamation 
of  freedom  in  his  own  will  to  do  right,  which  no  bodily  torture 
could  force  him  to  resign,  and  which  the  hands  of  man  could 
never  touch  or  defile.  He  early  saw  that  men  who  set  their 
minds  on  the  accumulation  of  riches  have  already  resigned 


226  Abraham  Lincoln 


their  wills  to  a  master.  He  stood  by  his  will  to  do  right,  to 
proclaim  justice,  to  delight  in  knowledge  and  the  companion- 
ship of  men.  He  refused  to  believe  in  the  power  of  material 
things  to  add  to  his  stature  as  a  man.  His  clothing  was  of  the 
plainest  and  owed  no  form  to  fashion.  He  ate  and  slept 
according  to  the  needs  of  nature,  not  to  tickle  the  palate  with 
dainty  food  or  to  wallow  in  downy  luxury.  In  the  most  stren- 
uous months  at  the  White  House  he  went  to  live  in  the  Old 
Sailors'  Home,  because  comparison  of  the  elegance  of  the 
Presidential  Mansion,  with  the  bare  discomforts  of  the 
camps  and  marches,  and  the  cruel  starvation  of  Anderson- 
ville,  made  sick  his  sympathetic  soul.  He  would  not  yield  his 
freedom  of  individuality  to  the  conventions  of  his  high  office. 
At  times  he  discussed  grave  matters  of  state  with  Members 
of  his  Cabinet,  with  Congressmen,  Senators,  and  Foreign 
Diplomats,  in  faded  dressing  gown  and  slippers,  his  native 
dignity  unimpaired.  Stripped  to  a  single  garment,  Abraham 
Lincoln  would  still  have  been  the  richest  man  of  his  time,  as 
rich  as  any  man  of  any  time,  because  he  steadfastly  refused 
to  allow  his  soul  to  be  bound,  although  by  so  doing  he  might 
win  the  whole  world. 

"The  tyrant,"  said  Epictetus,  "may  crush  my  limbs.  Has 
he  touched  my  will  ?  He  may  cut  my  head  from  my  shoulders. 
Has  he  taken  anything  from  me?"  So  Lincoln.  His  eyes  were 
fixed  on  the  things  of  the  spirit  and  toward  them  he  made  his 
way,  no  matter  how  thorny  or  rugged  the  path.  He  remained 
free  to  this  because  he  refused  to  become  a  slave  to  anything 
that  smelled  of  morality.  With  Socrates,  he  could  say  to 
those  who  would  master  him,  "You  can  do  anything  you  like 
with  me  if  you  can  lay  hold  on  me." 

What  boy,  however  humbly  born,  however  pinched  by 
poverty,  however  environed  by  ignorance  and  grossness,  but 


Lincoln  a  Present  Power  227 

may  be  inspired  by  Lincoln  to  set  his  feet  upon  an  upward 
road  and  persevere  to  the  end?  To  win  he  has  only  to  adopt 
Lincoln's  attitude  toward  life;  possibly  not  to  win  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  but  in  the  eyes  of  his  own  soul  under  whose 
steady  gaze  he  must  stand  continually,  every  day  and  every 
hour,  for  judgment.  King,  philosopher,  statesman,  scientist, 
mechanic,  farmer,  street  sweeper,  every  individual  may 
declare  his  freedom  and  demonstrate  it  after  the  manner  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  by  resolving  to  have  full  partnership  with 
the  result  of  his  toil,  extracting  from  such  partnership  the  full 
measure  of  its  meaning  as  a  projection  of  the  creative  im- 
pulse, and  of  its  still  larger  meaning  in  its  bearing  on  the 
whole  life  of  the  world. 

Chips  that  flew  from  the  blows  of  his  woodman's  ax 
became  winged  messengers,  pregnant  with  ideas,  on  voyages 
of  discovery,  as  full  of  meaning  to  him  as  the  voyage  of 
Columbus  over  uncharted  seas.  The  logs  he  hewed  were 
alive  with  the  sentiments  of  the  home  of  which  they  were  to 
become  an  integral  part.  The  flatboat  he  constructed  was  rich 
with  promises  of  knowledge  to  be  gained.  He  made  of  his 
merchandise  in  the  little  country  store  a  couch  on  which  he 
rested  to  drink  in  the  wisdom  of  the  "glory  that  was  Greece 
and  the  grandeur  that  was  Rome.,,  He  was  always  a  free  man 
and  came  and  went  on  journeys  over  the  earth,  and  into  the 
hearts  of  men,  with  as  strong  a  flight  and  as  direct  a  course 
as  the  migrating  denizens  of  the  air  on  their  annual  journeys. 

Today,  the  Union  that  Lincoln  loved  and  did  so  much  to 
preserve,  is  again  on  the  borders  of  division,  with  the  same 
class  consciousness  appearing  under  a  different  guise,  but 
scarcely  less  threatening  than  that  which  brought  on  the 
struggle  of  '61-65.  Men  in  great  numbers  have  surrendered 
their  freedom  of  will  to  do  right,  to  their  disposition  to  accu- 


228  Abraham  Lincoln 


mulate  material  things.  Men  of  superb  intelligence,  captain- 
ing corporate  industries,  like  McClellan  with  his  army  before 
Washington,  are  ever  greedy  for  the  enlargement  of  the  thing 
they  control,  but  more  and  more  showing  to  the  people  their 
inability  to  move  their  colossal  machine  to  any  degree  of 
harmony  or  public  advantage.  Labor  unions  founded  on  the 
principle  of  general  brotherhood,  have  likewise  become  like 
the  ambition  of  McClellan,  always  crying  for  more  guns, 
more  munitions,  more  rations,  and  better  equipment  but 
turning  them  to  no  constructive  account.  Between  these  two 
great  groups,  highly  organized,  glowering  upon  each  other 
with  growing  apprehension,  are  the  Great  Plain  People  who 
are  hardly  considered  in  the  problem. 

What  would  Lincoln  say  to  this  state  of  affairs,  were  he  to 
return  to  contemplate  it?  Would  not  his  wisdom  and  univer- 
sal sympathy  for  all  men  prompt  him  to  appeal  once  more  for 
patience  and  meditation?  Would  he  not  proclaim  again  his 
belief  in  the  people,  his  scorn  of  class  consciousness?  Would 
he  not  plead  with  men  to  lift  their  eyes  above  material  pos- 
sessions, to  draw  inspiration  from  the  sun  that  shines  and  the 
rains  that  fall  alike  on  rich  and  poor,  cultured  and  ignorant? 
Would  he  not  point  to  the  past  and  cite  the  evidence  of  his- 
tory to  prove  that  all  men  are  free  until  they  enslave  them- 
selves in  an  attempt  to  enslave  others?  Would  he  not  show 
how  sympathy  and  understanding  among  men  result  in 
peace  and  plenty,  while  bigotry  and  pride  result  in  war  and 
destruction  ? 

Lincoln,  above  and  beyond  all  men,  would  teach  these  con- 
tending forces  that  the  joy  of  life  is  in  giving,  the  enthusiasm 
of  life  is  in  serving,  and  the  highest  glory  which  can  be 
reached  by  man  is  the  attainment  of  absolute  self-abnega- 
tion; until  at  last  he  shall  be  lifted  to  that  lofty  tableland  of 


Lincoln  a  Present  Power  229 

universal  brotherhood  where  buying  and  selling,  work  and 
wages,  shall  have  been  converted  into  the  Divine  Sacraments 
of  human  fellowship,  where  men  shall  not  be  enemies,  but 
brothers — where  class  consciousness  shall  disappear,  and  the 
universal  hymn  of  humanity  shall  be,  "with  malice  toward 
none  and  charity  for  all!" 

Lincoln  demanded  of  government  what  he  demanded  of 
himself,  first  and  last,  that  it  should  be  true  to  itself.  He 
wore  the  robe  of  state  so  easily  that  critics  thought  him  care- 
less of  his  high  office.  The  reverse  was  true.  He  was  so  in 
harmony  with  it,  that  he  recognized  its  nature  beyond  and 
above  any  convention,  and  hid  himself  in  the  heart  of  it.  He 
sought  for  the  highest,  the  most  perfect  ideal  of  government, 
and  to  that  ideal  he  gave  absolute  loyalty.  The  ideals  of 
Union  were  those  set  out  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  adopted  in  the  Constitution.  From  those  ideals  he  suf- 
fered no  appeal  unless  it  should  be  to  that  higher  universal 
and  eternal  truth  inherent  in  the  universe  itself;  nor  did  he 
rest  in  the  degree  of  perfection  attained,  but  strove  for  per- 
fection itself.  He  smiled  at  the  anxieties  of  narrow  minds  over 
material  possessions,  knowing  the  ephemeral  character  of 
such  things  compared  with  the  permanency  of  the  possessions 
of  mind  and  soul.  Selfishness,  greed,  lust  for  gain,  were 
strangers  to  him.  A  government  in  which  such  passions 
should  play  a  part  was  government  not  of  freedom  but  of 
tyranny,  enslaving  the  ruler  as  well  as  the  ruled. 

Contemplating  the  journey  made  with  Lincoln  from  his 
native  cabin  in  the  Kentucky  woods  to  his  final  taking  ofT  in 
the  hour  of  what  will  always  seem  to  the  clouded  eyes  of 
humanity  as  the  hour  of  the  country's  greatest  need  of  him, 
reviewing  that  journey  so  filled  with  world  achievements  and 
pregnant  with  world  problems,  one  stands  with  bowed  head 


230  Abraham  Lincoln 


and  hushed  breath  before  the  supreme  modesty  and  simplic- 
ity of  the  man,  as  unobtrusive  as  the  mountains  or  the  sea,  as 
natural  as  the  sun  or  the  procession  of  the  planets.  It  is  his 
great  simplicity,  his  loyalty  to  ideals,  his  fidelity  to  truth  at 
every  point  of  his  career,  that  makes  him  today,  and  will 
make  him  always,  the  inspiration  for  the  democracy  of  man- 
hood, and  that  stamp  him  the  leaven  in  the  loaf  of  human  life 
that  will  finally  leaven  the  whole.  Before  him  creeds,  race 
prejudices,  narrowing  conventions  and  caste  selfishness  are 
shamed  out  of  existence  and  the  realities  appear. 

Pilate  questioned  Jesus:  "What  is  truth?"  His  answer  was 
silence.  But  not  so  on  a  more  fitting  occasion  when  the  Son  of 
the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  declared,  "I  am  the  Way  and  the 
Truth  and  the  Life."  And  again  he  said,  "It  is  the  truth  that 
makes  men  free." 

This  has  been  the  proclamation  of  every  universal  soul  who 
has  demonstrated  his  utterance  by  his  life, — Moses,  Isaiah, 
Socrates,  Epictetus,  Buddha,  Confucius,  Shakespeare,  Cer- 
vantes, Whitman — put  them  all  before  Pilate  and  let  him 
question  them,  as  he  did  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  their  answers 
will  be  silence.  But  to  those  who  understand  they  will  say, 
"I  am  the  Truth,"  with  the  qualifying  addition  of  Lincoln's 
humbleness,  "As  God  gives  me  to  see  the  Truth."  All  these 
great  souls  have  been  equally  emphatic  in  the  declaration 
that  it  is  truth,  loved  and  lived  and  clung  to  through  evil  and 
good  report,  in  success  and  defeat,  in  blazing  sunlight  or 
darkest  gloom,  that  makes  men  free.  The  lives  of  these  men 
illuminate  the  absorbing  reality  that  to  know  the  truth  is  to 
know  that  all  men  are  equal  in  the  sight  of  God. 

Lincoln  stands  with  this  limited  group  of  the  world's  great 
Truth  Tellers,  men  whose  characters  glow  with  love, — A 
UNIVERSAL  MAN. 


FAULTS  ESCAPED 

Page  9,  line  1,  'a  sin'  to  as  in 

Page  107,  line  27,  'though'  to  thought 

Page  107,  next  to  last  line,  omit  or  making  any  taking  any  receipts 

Page  125,  line  15,  omit  fifth  word,  state 

Page  162,  line  14,  first  word  should  read  pleased 


*§  Of  this  book  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  copies  have 
been  printed  on  Old  Stratford 
paper.     Copy  No.    4^  C?  * 


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